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Atlas / NTSB / ATL90LA004

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ATL90LA004

1989-10-08 MOORESVILLE, North Carolina, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N11575

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 170A

Year of manufacture

1950 · 39 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR C145 SERIES (145 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560713

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A04231

Registrant of record

PYLE HOWARD H

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN HIS FAILURE TO ATTAIN THE PROPER TOUGHDOWN POINT ON THE UNIDIRECTIONAL RUNWAY. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE UNFAVORABLE WIND AND TERRAIN CONDITIONS.

Factual narrative

THE PLT TOOK OFF FROM A UNIDIRECTIONAL AIRSTRIP FOR A LOCAL FLT. BY THE TIME HE HAD RETURNED, THE WIND SHIFTED TO THE NORTH & WAS GUSTING TO 15 KTS (A QUARTERING TAILWIND FOR LANDING). THE PLT FLEW OVER THE STRIP TO EVALUATE THE WIND & ELECTED TO LAND. DURING THE LANDING, THE ACFT TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT HALFWAY DOWN THE RWY. AFTER BEING COMMITTED TO LAND, THE PLT APPLIED HVY BRAKES. SUBSEQUENTLY, HE STEERED THE ACFT OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE RWY AT THE DEP END, WHERE IT ENCTRD TALL GRASS ON SOFT TERRAIN & NOSED OVER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL90LA004.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. 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 ↗