ATL94FA093 · Nord (SNCAN) 1101
Nord (SNCAN) 1101 · Accident: fire on approach
From Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (SPA) to Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (SPA)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL94FA093
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Nord (SNCAN) 1101
- Aircraft type
- Nord (sncan) 1101
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1101A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (SPA)To Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (SPA)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Fire
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING TAKEOFF, BLACK SMOKE WAS OBSERVED COMING FROM THE AIRPLANE BY A PILOT IN ANOTHER AIRPLANE. THE PILOT OF THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE WAS ASKED IF HE HAD A SMOKE GENERATOR ON BOARD, AND HE REPLIED THAT HIS AIRPLANE WAS ON FIRE. THE AIRPLANE WAS THEN OBSERVED TO TURN DOWNWIND, FLY FOR ABOUT A MINUTE IN LEVEL FLIGHT, AND TURN TOWARD THE AIRPORT. AS THE TURN GOT STEEPER, THE AIRPLANE ROLLED INVERTED, IMPACTED THE GROUND, AND BURNED. FIRE DESTROYED THE AIRFRAME AND MELTED THE ENTIRE ENGINE ACCESSORY SECTION. THE NOSE CASE, AND MOST CONNECTING FUEL AND OIL LINES WERE ALSO DESTROYED BY THE FIRE. EXAMINATION OF AN EXHAUST FLANGE FOUND IN THE CHARRED DEBRIS REVEALED AN ELLIPTICAL PATTERN ON THE OUTER SURFACE; THE COLOR SHADES RANGED FROM A SOOTY BLACK TO WHITE. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE RECORDS REVEALED THAT A LARGER ENGINE HAD BEEN INSTALLED ON THE AIRPLANE, AND A NEW AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATE HAD NOT BEEN ISSUED FOR THE MAJOR ALTERATION. NO SOOT DEPOSITION WAS PRESENT WITHIN THE PILOT'S RESPIRATORY TREE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED WHILE MANEUVERING FOR AN EMERGENCY LANDING. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS AN INFLIGHT FIRE FROM AN UNDETERMINED SOURCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL94FA093
- Event ID
- 20001206X01200
- Case number
- ATL94FA093
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: b545b8df3f1896839f24ec5707095e7b9e42541260821f62be86da1c9a4de718; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:10:17.823Z.