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MIA88LA236

1988-07-25 · COCOA BEACH, Florida, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

FLT ENTERED NEAR VERTICAL DESCENT WHILE FLYING IN AREA OF LEVEL 1 AND 2 THUNDERSTORMS JUST AFTER PLT HAD CALLED REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DEVIATE AROUND RAIN SHOWERS. A LEVEL 5 THUNDERSTORM WAS PRESENT 8 MILES WEST. THE ACFT DESCENDED AT RATES UP TO 13,800 FEET PER MINUTE. WITNESSES SAW ACFT EXIT BOTTOM OF CLOUDS AT APPROX 4,000 FEET IN A NEAR FLAT ATTITUDE AND ROTATING AROUND THE YAW AXIS TO THE LEFT. ENGINE SOUNDS INCREASED AND DECREASED AS THE ACFT ROTATED AND ALL COMPONENTS APPEARED TO BE PRESENT ON THE ACFT. NO SMOKE OR FLAME WAS VISIBLE. AT APPROX 500 FEET ABOVE THE WATER THE ROTATION STOPPED AND THE NOSE DROPPED TO A 30 TO 70 DEGREE NOSE DOWN ANGLE AND BOTH ENGINES COULD BE HEARD INCREASING IN POWER. BEFORE THE RECOVERY COULD BE COMPLETED THE ACFT STRUCK THE OCEAN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_MIA88LA236.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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