December 06, Fort Myers, Fla. / Beech Baron

At about 1539 eastern time, a Beech 58 crashed after an approach to Page Field. The pilot and one passenger were killed. The flight had originated in St. Joseph, Mo., bound for Naples, Fla., with a fuel stop in Centerville, Ala. At Naples the pilot was cleared for the VOR 23 approach, but missed it. The pilot requested a diversion to Page Airport to shoot the ILS 5 approach. Radar information showed he was never established on the localizer. He missed the approach, verified the ILS frequency with controllers, and requested another try. He said he had flown the first approach on automatic and would make the second attempt on manual. The controller asked fuel status and the pilot reported it was practically nil. The controller said the third approach would be a surveillance approach and he would be given heading and descent instructions while on the localizer course. This approach also resulted in a miss, and the controller attempted to vector the flight to Southwest Regional Airport for an ILS because that airport had high intensity approach lights. As the flight was being vectored, it descended into a residential area. Weather at the time included a ceiling of 300 feet, visibility 3 miles, temperature 16 F and dewpoint 16 F.