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ATL87FA122

1987-04-22 · LEESBURG, Georgia, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N478MP has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CIRRUS DESIGN SR22, built 2009), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

DURING A RETURN FLIGHT AT NIGHT, THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN AN OPEN FIELD. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE GROUND IN A NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. THE IMPACT DISPLACED THE WING ASSEMBLY REARWARD PERPENDICULARLY THROUGH THE REAR SPAR ASSEMBLY. BOTH ENGINE AND PROPELLER ASSEMBLIES WERE BURIED IN THE GROUND ABOUT THREE FEET. THE INVESTIGATION FAILED TO INDICATE ANY AIRCRAFT PROBLEMS. THE PILOT WAS IN THE PROCESS OF SURRENDERING HIS PILOT CERTIFICATE FOR A PREVIOUS AVIATION VIOLATION. THE PILOT'S STATE DRIVERS LICENSE WAS ALSO SUSPENDED FOR A MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATION. RECORDS INDICATED HE HAD RECEIVED 17 MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS SINCE 1975. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_ATL87FA122.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.