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ATL89FA139

1989-04-29 · SUCHES, Georgia, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 9A0

N2526W has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV-6A, built 2000), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FLIGHT INTO KNOWN ADVERSE WEATHER, AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CLEARANCE ABOVE THE WOODED TERRAIN. THE ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITION, HIGH TERRAIN, AND TREES WERE RELATED FACTORS.

Factual narrative

THE PLT HAD RECEIVED HIS PVT CERTIFICATE 3 DAYS BEFORE THE ACDNT. ABOUT 1 HR AFTER RECEIVING A WX BRIEFING, HE TOOK OFF FROM HAMPTON, GA, ON A FLT TO DAHLONEGA, GA. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES & CRASHED ABOUT 2 MI NW OF THE DESTN ARPT. THE ACDNT SITE WAS ON THE EAST SLOPE OF A MTN. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT IMPACT OCCURRED WHILE THE ACFT WAS IN LEVEL FLT. WRECKAGE WAS SCATTERED OVER A 225' AREA. FRESHLY BROKEN LIMBS WITH PROP SLASH MARKS WERE FND WHERE THE ACFT INITIALLY IMPACTED TREES. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND DURING THE INVESTIGATION. RPRTDLY, MARGINAL WX CONDITIONS EXISTED WITH LOW CEILINGS & REDUCED VISIBILITY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89FA139.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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