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ATL89MA072

1989-01-12 · TIPP CITY, Ohio, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DAY

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER IFR PROCEDURE BY THE FIRST OFFICER (COPILOT) DURING TAKEOFF, HIS LACK OF INSTRUMENT SCAN (IMPROPER USE OF FLIGHT/NAVIGATION INSTRUMENTS), HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A POSITIVE RATE OF CLIMB OR TO IDENTIFY THE RESULTANT DESCENT, AND THE CAPTAIN'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: DARK NIGHT, LOW CEILING, DRIZZLE, THE FIRST OFFICER'S LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF OPERATION, AND POSSIBLE SPATIAL DISORIENTATION OF THE FIRST OFFICER.

Factual narrative

DRG NGT CARGO OPN, CHECK CAPT (RGT SEAT) WAS EVALUATING THE 1ST OFFICER (F/O, LEFT SEAT) FOR PSBL UPGRADE TO CAPT. BFR DEPG, FLT WAS CLRD FOR RGT TURN AFTER TKOF TO 020 DEG. TKOF BGN AT 0441:11. WTR/METHANOL INJECTION WAS USED (TO 1ST PWR RDCN). AT 0441:49, LNDG GEAR WAS RETRACTED; 8 SEC LTR 1ST PWR RDCN WAS MADE, THEN A FREQ CHG WAS APPROVED. CAPT NOTED THEY SHLD CLB TO 1500' MSL (APRX 500' AGL) BFR TURNING. AT ABT 300' AGL, ACFT ENTERED OVC & BGN A STEEP RGT TURN. CVR INDCD CAPT WAS PERFORMING COCKPIT DUTIES AT THIS TIME & GIVING INFO TO F/O ABT THE DEP. FDR SHOWED ACFT RCHD MAX ALT OF 423' AGL & BGN DSCNDG. AT 0442:22, CAPT REMARKED TO F/O, 'DON'T GO DOWN . . . GET UP . . . UP UP UP . . . UP, OH!' AT ABT THAT TIME, ACFT HIT IN AN OPEN FLD, BUT CONTD FLYING FOR APRX 3/4 MI. IT THEN HIT A TREE & CRASHED IN A WOODED AREA.INV REVEALED THAT DRG SVRL TRNG FLTS & 2 CHECK FLTS, THE F/O DEMONSTRATED DIFFICULTY IN PERFORMING INSTRUMENT FLT DUE TODISORIENTATION, NARROW FOCUS OF ATTENTION, OR LACK OF INSTRUMENT SCAN (INST FIXATION), ESPECIALLY DRG HI TASK WORK LOAD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89MA072.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 (spatial disorientation). All research papers