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ATL89LA085

1989-02-11 · ONEONTA, Alabama, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 20A

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT BY THE PILOT AND FUEL EXHAUSTION. TREES CONTRIBUTED TO THE AIRCRAFT DAMAGE.

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE WAS LAST 'TOPPED OFF' WITH FUEL ON 1/28/89, THEN WAS FLOWN ON 4 FLTS FOR A TOTAL OF 5.5 HRS. DRG THAT TIME,AN ADDITIONAL 20 GAL OF FUEL WAS ADDED. BEFORE THE ACDNT FLT, THE PLT NOTED THE FUEL LEVEL WAS LOW, SO HE ELECTED TO FLY TO A NEARBY ARPT TO REFUEL. SHORTLY AFTER STARTING THE FLIGHT, THE ENGINE LOST POWER & THE PLT WAS FORCED TO LAND IN TREES. ONLY ABOUT 1 PINT OF FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE ACFT AFTER THE ACDNT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89LA085.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.