N537HFCessna 172R · 2000

On November 30, 2017, about 2301 eastern standard time (EST), a Cessna 172 airplane, N537HF, impacted taxiway lights after landing in the grass south of runway 9L at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida. The private pilot and sole passenger sustained no injuries and the airplane was substantially damaged. The flight was being operated as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 visual flight rules personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight departed TMB about 2230 for a local area flight.

According to the pilot, while approaching TMB, he was issued a landing clearance by the air traffic control tower (ATCT) to land on runway 9L. The pilot stated that when entering the traffic pattern, he heard the ATCT controller state that the tower was closing. After turning onto the final segment of the traffic pattern and seeing the runway numbers, the ATCT controller said good night over the frequency just prior to the runway lights extinguishing. The pilot then lost sight of the runway, but still saw blue taxiway lights to the right of the airplane. He continued for landing and after touching down impacted an object on what he perceived as the runway. When he exited the aircraft to investigate, he realized he landed in the grass and had impacted a taxiway light, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing and lift strut.

The Airport Facilities Directory states that the ATCT at TMB is only open from 0700 EST – 2300 EST (1200Z – 0400Z). When the ATCT is closed, high intensity runway lighting is available only for runway 9R/27L, and is controlled by the pilot on frequency 118.9 (ATCT frequency). To manually control the runway lights, the pilot would have to click the microphone seven times for the lights to be turned on maximum intensity, five times for the lights to be turned on medium intensity and three times for the lights to be turned on low intensity. At TMB, when the ATCT is closed, there would be no runway lights available for runway 9L, but all taxiway lights would be illuminated and controlled in conjunction with the runway 9R lights. The pilot did not state that he activated the pilot-controlled lighting prior to touching down.

A memorandum from the Air Traffic Manager at TMB ATCT includes the following (times have been converted from UTC to local):

22:52:55 - N537HF made initial contact with the tower advising them that they were 10

miles east and inbound for landing

22:53:12 – PRE-CLOSING statement made as per the closing checklist

22:55:55 - Local Controller begins closing statement. N537HF is on a 2-mile base to final

23:01:38 – Last radar target of N537HF

A review of the airfield lighting logs showed the lights were on and transitioned to pilot-controlled lighting at 23:06:50.

The pilot stated there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

The closest official weather observation station is TMB. At 2253, a METAR was reporting, in part, wind 010° at 6 knots; visibility 10 statute miles; clouds and ceiling clear; temperature 70° F; dew point 64° F; altimeter 30.05 inches of Mercury.