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ATL82FA145

1982-05-29 · NORFOLK, Virginia, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ORF

N777HD has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES 1124A, built 1983), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ENG QUIT DURING FINAL APPROACH. THE ACFT HAD A HISTORY OF PROBLEMS WITH WATER IN FUEL SYSTEM LEADING TO ENGINE PROBLEMS. ON 2/8/82 SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES OF WATER WAS FOUND IN THE FUEL SYSTEM. POST CRASH EXAMINATION REVEALED WATER IN THE FUEL SYSTEM. WATER HAD ENTERED THE SYSTEM THROUGH A LEAKING FUEL CAP. POST CRASH TEST SHOWED THAT WATER IN THE FUEL SYSTEM COULD NOT BE DRAINED DUE TO RIDGES & WALLS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE FUEL BLADDER THAT TRAPPED WATER. THESE TESTSALSO SHOWED THAT DUE TO THE DIHEDRAL & ANGLE OF INCIDENCE OF HIGH WING CESSNAS WATER COULD NOT OVERCOME THESE RIDGES & FLOW TO THE DESIGN DRAIN POINTS IN THE WINGS. THE SAFETY BOARD HAS ISSUED SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS ON THIS PROBLEM. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1982_ATL82FA145.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.