Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / ATL89LA084

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ATL89LA084

1989-02-01 GALION, Ohio, United States Airport · GQQ None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N8121B

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

MATTEI MICHAEL J ACRODUSTER II

Year of manufacture

1995

Engine

LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19950710

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AB1347

Registrant of record

VOLKMANN JAMES P

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO RETRACT THE FLAPS PRIOR TO ADDING POWER FOR TAKEOFF RESULTING IN A PREMATURE LIFT-OFF, AND THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTIAN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AFTER LIFT-OFF WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL/MUSH.

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE STALLED AND CRASHED SHORTLY AFTER A DOWNWIND TOUCH & GO LDG. THE PLT REPORTED THAT HE DID NOT CHECK THE ARPT WINDSOCK PRIOR TO THE LDG. THE AIRPLANE TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 1/3 DOWN THE 3,500 FT RWY WITH FULL FLAPS (40 DEGREES). THE PLT THEN INITIATED T/O BY FIRST ADDING POWER. BEFORE HE COULD RAISE THE FLAPS THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE & CLIMBED TO ABOUT 100 FT. HE THEN ELECTED TO LEAVE THE FLAPS DOWN BECAUSE OF LOW AIRSPEED AND THE POSSIBILITY OF STALLING. THE AIRPLANE BEGAN TO DESCEND, AND SUBSEQUENTLY IMPACTED THE GROUND WITH THE RT MAIN & NOSE LDG GEAR ABOUT 300 YDS SOUTH OF THE ARPT. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT THE AIRPLANE MAINTAINED A HIGH ANGLE OF ATTACK AS IT DESCENDED. THE PILOT NOTED THAT THE WIND HAD BEEN BLOWING FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION EARLIER IN THE FLT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89LA084.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗