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ATL89FA142

1989-05-06 · MT. PLEASANT, Tennessee, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MRC

N95PB has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AMERICAN CHAMPION AIRCRAFT 8KCAB, built 2024), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

PILOT ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A VFR LANDING IN INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS THAT WERE BELOW MINIMUMS FOR THE PUBLISHED INSTRUMENT APPROACH AND COLLIDED WITH TREES AND THE GROUND AFTER ALLOWING THE AIRPLANE TO DESCEND BELOW THE PROPER ALTITUDE.

Factual narrative

AFTER CONDUCTING GROUND TRAINING ALL DAY, THE INSTRUCTOR/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND HIS TRAINEE FLEW AN EMB-110-P1 TO MEMPHIS TO EXCHANGE AIRPLANES. GROUND FOG HAD STARTED TO FORM PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. AFTER EXCHANGING AIRPLANES, THEY MADE THE RETURN FLIGHT TO COLUMBIA. THEY OBTAINED RADAR VECTORS TO THE FINAL APPROACH COURSE FOR THE SDF AT COLUMBIA. THE THICK FOG RESULTED IN A MISSED APPROACH. DURING THE MISSED APPROACH, THE RUNWAY WAS VISIBLE FROM ABOVE AND THE CREW INDICATED THAT THEY WOULD TRY FOR A VFR APPROACH AND LANDING. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES 2350 FEET FROM THE RUNWAY IN A WINGS LEVEL ATTITUDE. THE TOPS OF THE TREES WERE BROKEN 41 FEET ABOVE THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD ALTITUDE. THE TRAINEE HAD BEEN WITHOUT REST FOR AT LEAST 30 HOURS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89FA142.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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