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ATL85LA201

1985-06-30 · MORGANTOWN, West Virginia, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MGW

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE CFI & DUAL STUDENT WERE ON A FLT TO FAIRMONT, WV SO THE STUDENT COULD RECEIVE A MULTI-ENG FLT EXAM. THE STUDENT STATED THAT SHORTLY AFTER LIFT-OFF FROM RWY 18, THE CFI CLOSED THE MIXTURE CONTROL ON THE RIGHT ENG 'TO SIMULATE AN ENGINE FAILURE.' THE ACFT BEGAN TO YAW TO THE RIGHT & THE STUDENT APPLIED LEFT RUDDER & AILERON TO CORRECT THE YAW. ACCORDING TO THE CFI, THE STUDENT THEN REVERSED THE INPUTS MOMENTARILY & THE ACFT ROLLED TO THE RIGHT. THE CFI THEN DECREASED THE PITCH ATTITUDE OF THE ACFT & LEVELED THE WINGS. HOWEVER, THE ACFT IMPACTED THE GROUND APRX 200 FT WEST OF RWY 18 & WAS DESTROYED BY POST IMPACT FIRE. THE STUDENT STATED THAT THE ACFT HAD REACHED AN ALT OF ABOUT 100 TO 150 FT AGL WHEN THE 'SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE' WAS INITIATED. HE FURTHER STATED THAT IT WAS A COMMON PRACTICE FOR THE CFI TO SIMULATE AN ENG FAILURE BY CLOSING THE MIXTURE CONTROL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_ATL85LA201.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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