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ATL88LA124

1988-03-24 · MUSCLE SHOALS, Alabama, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MSL

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER DURING THE LOCAL, SOLO FLT. THE STUDENT ELECTED TO MAKE A PRECAUTIONARY LDG AT MUSCLE SHOALS ARPT (MSL) WHICH WAS THE NEAREST ARPT. HE MADE TWO ATTEMPTS TO LAND ON RWY 36, WITH A 12-20 KT TAILWIND: ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT, HE WAS UNABLE TO PUT THE AIRPLANE ON THE RWY AND HE EXECUTED A GO-AROUND. ON THE SECOND ATTEMPT, HE LANDED; THE AIRPLANE OVERRAN THE 4,000 FT RWY AND NOSED OVER. THE STUDENT RPTD THAT HE WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE THE ARPT WINDSOCK PRIOR TO LDG. THE WINDSOCK IS LOCATED AT ABOUT MIDFIELD, ACCORDING TO ARPT LAYOUT DIAGRAMS. POST-CRASH EXAM OF THE AIRPLANE BY A MECHANIC REVEALED THAT THE ALTERNATOR FIELD WIRE HAD BROKEN AT THE FIELD TERMINAL, WHICH DISABLED THE ALTERNATOR AND SUBSEQUENTLY LED TO A DISCHARGED BATTERY. THE STUDENT HAD ONLY ABOUT 1 HR SOLO FLT EXPERIENCE. HE HAD PREVIOUSLY LANDED AT MSL, DURING A DUAL-INSTRUCTIONAL FLT ABOUT A WEEK BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_ATL88LA124.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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