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ATL89FA090

1989-02-21 · TIPP CITY, Ohio, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DAY

Current FAA registration · N1139X

Make / Model
S C AEROSTAR S A YAK-52
Year of manufacture
1984 · 5 years old at event
Engine
VEDENEYEV M14P (350 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20071002
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A03B01

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER PLANNING BY THE PILOT RESULTING IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. THE PILOTS LACK OF EQUIPMENT AND ABILITY TO HANDLE THE WEATHER SITUATION WAS IGNORED BY THE PILOT IN HIS PLANNING FOR THE FLIGHT.

Factual narrative

PIC HAD NOT FLOWN FOR 10 YRS. BOUGHT ACFT & FLEW ON FAMILY VACATION FOR TWO DAYS & HEADED HOME. AT REFUEL STOP CHECKED WX & NOTED LOW CEILINGS AT DESTINATION. PIC FLEW TO DESTINATION TERMINAL AREA, OBTAINED WX FROM ATC & REQUESTED VOR APPROACH. ACFT NOT EQUIPPED FOR APPROACH. ACFT ALSO NOT IFR CERTIFIED & NAV INSTRUMENTS WERE NOT CHECKED FOR CORRECT OPERATION. PIC FLEW IN IMC ABOUT TWO HOURS, EXECUTING SEVEN UNSUCCESSFUL APPROACHES; VOR, LOC, AND ILS. FUEL WAS EVENTUALLY EXHAUSTED & ACFT CRASHED ABOUT 1 MILE FROM THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89FA090.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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