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ATL87FA168

1987-06-15 · BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BWG

N1823Z has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DJI MAVIC 3 CINE), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM BOWLING GREEN, THE PILOT REPORTED A PROBLEM. HE DID NOT REPORT THE DETAILS OF THE PROBLEM, BUT WITNESSES HEARD THE AIRCRAFT BACKFIRING AS IT DESCENDED. THE AIRCRAFT HAD TAKEN ON FUEL AT BOWLING GREEN. THE INVESTIGATION FAILED TO CONCLUSIVELY DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE REPORTED AIRCRAFT PROBLEM. THE IMPACT AND POST CRASH FIRE DESTROYED THE AIRFRAME AND PREVENTED A COMPLETE INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE'S IGNITION AND FUEL SYSTEMS. HOWEVER, THE ENGINE EXAMINATION FAILED TO DISCLOSE ANY MECHANICAL PROBLEMS. THE EXAM DISCLOSED THAT BOTH THE PISTON AND VALVE TOPS WERE FREE OF COMBUSTION CARBON. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_ATL87FA168.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.