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ATL88LA169

1988-05-10 · RAEFORD, North Carolina, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 5W4

N5678B has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SLING AIRCRAFT (PTY) LTD SLING LSA, built 2022), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE LOST POWER SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, AT 100-200 FT AGL. A WITNESS REPORTED HEARING THE ENGINE BACKFIRE SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE IT LOST POWER COMPLETELY. THE AIRPLANE CRASHED SHORTLY THEREAFTER, AS THE PILOT WAS ATTEMPTING TO RETURN TO THE ARPT. EXAM OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE IGNITION HARNESSES AND SEVERAL SPARK PLUGS WERE IN POOR CONDITION: SEVERAL IGNITION LEADS WERE DETERIORATED; 3/4 OF ALL LEADS WERE IMPROPERLY CONNECTED TO THE MAGNETOS. THE SPARK PLUGS FIRED INTERMITTENTLY AND BROKE DOWN UNDER PRESSURE, WHEN OPERATIONALLY TESTED. OTHER EVIDENCE OF POOR MAINTENANCE WAS ALSO FOUND, INCLUDING WATER CONTAMINATION IN THE CARB BOWL AND A DETERIORATED CARB ACCELERATOR PUMP. THE AIRPLANE UNDERWENT A 100 HR INSPECTION 4 MONTHS/128 FLT HRS 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_ATL88LA169.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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