ATL93LA091
1993-05-10 · WILMINGTON, North Carolina, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport ILM
Current FAA registration · N4856D
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 172N
- Year of manufacture
- 1979 · 14 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19790302
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A5FE5A
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE GROUND PERSONNEL'S FAILURE TO ENSURE THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS CLEAR OF OBSTRUCTIONS WHICH RESULTED IN THE RIGHT WING COLLIDING WITH A UTILITY POLE. A FACTOR WAS THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT
Factual narrative
On May 10, 1993, at 1015 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172 , N4856D, collided with a utility pole while taxiing to parking at the New Hanover County Airport, Wilmington, North Carolina. The instructional flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the collision. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the student pilot was not injured. The flight departed Wilmington at 0915 hours. According to the pilot, she had completed a local flight and was cleared to taxi to the ramp. Upon arriving at the parking area, a line boy came out to assist the pilot with the parking of the airplane; the pilot proceeded to follow the ground guide's instructions. As the ground guide instructed the pilot to turn left, the right wing collided with a utility pole. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, SHE COMPLETED A NORMAL LANDING AND WAS TAXIING TO PARKING WHEN A GROUND GUIDE ON THE RAMP APPROACHED THE AIRPLANE TO ASSIST WITH THE PARKING. AS THE AIRPLANE NEARED THE PARKING SPOT, THE GROUND GUIDE INSTRUCTED THE PILOT TO TURN LEFT. AS THE PILOT STARTED THE TURN, THE RIGHT OUTBOARD WING PANEL COLLIDED WITH A UTILITY POLE ON THE RAMP Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_ATL93LA091.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. All research papers
- NASA NTRS 2023 · Reprint (Version printed in journal) Finite Element Simulation of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests for Cessna 172 Aircraft
The NASA Emergency Locator Transmitter Survivability and Reliability project was initiated in 2013 to assess the crash performance standards for the next generation of emergency locator transmitter (E…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM) Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper Validation of Training Satisfaction Survey
The Training Satisfaction Survey (TSS) was developed as part of a larger project to examine the features of Virtual Reality software and supporting devices as a training program on visual illusions an…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Data in Brief) Cockpit voice recorder transcript data: Capturing safety voice and safety listening during historic aviation accidents
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts capture audio data within cockpit environments. This aids the investigation of causal factors contributing to aviation accidents by revealing communication and…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Safety Science) Safety voice and safety listening during aviation accidents: Cockpit voice recordings reveal that speaking-up to power is not enough
Abstract Safety voice is theorised as an important factor for mitigating accidents, but behavioural research during actual hazards has been scant.