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ATL88DMG01

1987-10-11 · BENNETTSVILLE, South Carolina, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 64J

N111MJ has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (MOONEY M20C, built 1968), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE HOMEBUILT AEROBATIC AIRPLANE IMPACTED FLAT TERRAIN ADJACENT TO THE RWY SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF. A PILOT/WITNESS WHO WAS IN THE ARPT TERMINAL LOBBY AT THE TIME RPTD THAT HE BRIEFLY OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE PASS BY THE TERMINAL AT A LOW LEVEL IN A NEAR WINGS-VERTICAL ATTITUDE. THE ENGINE SOUNDED AS IF THE AIRPLANE WAS GOING THROUGH AEROBATIC MANEUVERS. THE AIRPLANE DISAPPEARED FROM HIS VIEW AND HE HEARD THE SOUND OF AN IMPACT SHORTLY THEREAFTER. THE WITNESS REPORTEDLY HAD AEROBATIC FLIGHT EXPERIENCE. POST-CRASH EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF ANY PRE-EXISTING MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION. ACCORDING TO THE FAA, THE PLT HAD NOT ACQUIRED ANY PIC TIME WITHIN THE PRECEDING 90 DAYS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_ATL88DMG01.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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