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ATL92FA053

1992-03-02 · N TOPSAIL BEACH, North Carolina, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 54T

N65988 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 182T, built 2005), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO OBTAIN AND/OR MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED DURING TAKEOFF, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL AND COLLISION WITH THE GROUND. FACTORS WERE: THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES/DIRECTIVES, HIS OPERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH EXCESSIVE GROSS WEIGHT, AND HIS LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE AS A PILOT.

Factual narrative

THE NEWLY CERTIFICATED PRIVATE PILOT WAS TAKING 3 FRIENDS ON A LOCAL PLEASURE FLIGHT. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT THE AIRPLANE DRIFTED SOON AFTER TAKEOFF, NARROWLY CLEARED A FUEL TANK AND TRAILER, AND ROLLED OFF TO THE LEFT. HE STATED THAT THE ENGINE WAS RUNNING NORMALLY UNTIL GROUND IMPACT. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND IN A NEARLY VERTICAL, NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE, WITH THE FLAPS UP. THE 90-HOUR PILOT HAD LOGGED ONLY 5 HOURS IN THE C172. POST ACCIDENT WEIGHT AND BALANCE CALCULATIONS ESTIMATED THE TAKEOFF GROSS WEIGHT TO BE ABOUT 2474 POUNDS, THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE TAKEOFF WEIGHT FOR THIS AIRPLANE WAS 2400. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_ATL92FA053.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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