N64453

On September 16, 1998, about 1940 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N64453, was substantially damaged when it struck an airport sign while taxing, after landing at the Teterboro Airport, Teterboro (TEB), New Jersey. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a visual flight rules flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed the Columbia County Airport, Hudson, New York, about 1815. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

In a telephone interview, the pilot stated he landed on runway 1 and made a left turn onto taxiway 'G.' The pilot asked for and received progressive taxi instructions from the TEB ground controller. The pilot said he had difficulty seeing the airplane's instruments and was unable to locate the instrument panel light switch. He was also unable to locate the landing/taxi light, and the airplane's panel lights. The pilot used the green taxiway center line lights to taxi to taxiway 'B.' He was then told to make a right turn onto taxiway 'B' and to "expedite" his crossing of runway 1/19. The pilot made a right turn onto taxiway 'B' and applied power. He said it was "absolutely dark" and he did not see the taxiway center line lights anymore. The pilot also stated, he might have been going too fast and he thought he felt the airplane traveling on the grass before the impact.

In a written statement the pilot said:

"...[I] applied power, and the aircraft started to get away from me. As I was reducing power to try to recover control of the aircraft, I hit something..."

The airplane struck the sign for the "P/L/B" intersection and traveled about 50 feet past the sign, into the runway 1/19 safety area. Taxiway "B" contained center line lighting. It was not equipped with taxiway edge lights. According to TEB airport personnel, all of the taxiway center line lights were functional.

Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration Inspector did not revealed any pre-impact abnormalities. A check of the airplane's landing/taxi light revealed it worked normally.

The pilot reported about 210 hours of total flight experience, of which about 65 hours were in make and model. The pilot stated he had a total of about 10 hours of night flight experience, and had not flown at night since 1973.