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ATL89FA194

1989-08-10 · RALEIGH, North Carolina, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RDU

N55TP has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (ROBINSON HELICOPTER R44 II, built 2006), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S LOSS OF CONTROL DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION WHILE OPERATING IN INSTRUMENT WEATHER CONDITIONS.

Factual narrative

THE FLIGHT HAD DEPARTED RALEIGH DURHAM INTL AIRPORT AT 1119. AT 1122 THE FLIGHT WAS CLEARED TO THE TAR RIVER VOR. THE PILOT 'ROGERED' THE INSTRUCTIONS, AND THIS WAS THE LAST RECORDED CONVERSATION. WITNESSES REPORTED HEARING THE ENGINES REVVING UP BEFORE THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED THE GROUND, AND ONE WITNESS REPORTED SEEING THE AIRPLANE IN A NOSE LOW ATTITUDE BEFORE THE IMPACT. THE PILOT DID NOT REPORT EXPERIENCING WEATHER DIFFICULTIES. THERE WERE NO DEPICTIONS OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WITHIN THE FLIGHT'S FLIGHT PATH VICINITY ON ATC RADAR. NO PRE-IMPACT FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. RADAR DATA SHOWED SOME INSTABILITY IN HEADING, ALTITUDE AND AIRSPEED BETWEEN 1120:51 AND 1123:40. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89FA194.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control, spatial disorientation, thunderstorm). All research papers