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DCA91MA042

1991-07-10 · BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BHM

N7217L has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AEROMARINE CONSULTING INC MERLIN), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE DECISION OF THE CAPTAIN TO INITIATE AND CONTINUE AN INSTRUMENT APPROACH INTO CLEARLY IDENTIFIED THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY, RESULTING IN A LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE FROM WHICH THE FLIGHTCREW WAS UNABLE TO RECOVER AND SUBSEQUENT COLLISION WITH OBSTACLES AND THE TERRAIN. (NTSB REPORT AAR-92/01)

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE CRASHED INTO HOUSES WHILE ON AN ILS APPROACH TO RUNWAY 5 AT THE BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT. THE WEATHER BRIEFING DATA THAT THE CAPTAIN RECEIVED IN MOBILE WAS ACCURATE, ADVISING HIM TO EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS IN THE BIRMINGHAM AREA. BIRMINGHAM ATIS INFORMATION WHISKEY AND X-RAY, MENTIONING THUNDERSTORMS, WAS ALSO ACCURATE, AND THE FLIGHTCREW HEARD THEM, AS WELL AS INFORMATION FROM THE APPROACH CONTROLLER THAT THE AIRPORT WAS EXPERIENCING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_DCA91MA042.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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