ATL95LA019 · Weeks GLASAIR SH2F GLASAIR SH
Weeks GLASAIR SH2F GLASAIR SH · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB) to Florence Regional Airport (FLO)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL95LA019
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Weeks GLASAIR SH2F GLASAIR SH
- Aircraft type
- Weeks GLASAIR SH2F
- 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
- N169DW
- Operator
- Weeks, William D. & Norma, J.
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), Melbourne, FLTo Florence Regional Airport (FLO), Florence, SC
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Flight into known adverse weather, continued
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, continued
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
- Vacuum system › Failure, total
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A COUPLE MADE A CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT TO VISIT FRIENDS WHO WERE IN ANOTHER STATE. THE HUSBAND HAD A PRIVATE CERTIFICATE WITH AN INSTRUMENT RATING, AND HIS WIFE HAD A PRIVATE CERTIFICATE. BOTH HAD AN AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND RATING. DURING THE FLIGHT THE VACUUM PUMP FAILED, AND IT WAS NOT REPAIRED DURING THE VISIT. FOLLOWING THE WEEKEND VISIT, THEY WERE RETURNING HOME. PRIOR TO DEPARTING, THE HUSBAND OBTAINED A WEATHER BRIEFING FOR A VFR FLIGHT. VFR WAS NOT RECOMMENDED BY THE FSS SPECIALIST BECAUSE OF FORECASTED INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS AT THE DESTINATION AIRPORT, AT THE EXPECTED ARRIVAL TIME. THE FLIGHT DEPARTED VFR, AND WHEN NEAR THE DESTINATION REQUESTED AN IFR CLARENCE FOR AN APPROACH. THE HUSBAND MADE THE RADIO CALLS TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, AND STATED THAT THEY WERE BETWEEN CLOUD LAYERS. AFTER INITIATING THE FIRST VECTOR FOR THE INSTRUMENT APPROACH, THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE 'GYROS' HAD BEEN LOST. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, THE AIRPLANE DISAPPEARED FROM RADAR AND RADIO CONTACT. IT IMPACTED, OUT OF CONTROL, INTO A DENSELY WOODED AREA.
Probable cause
The pilot's continued operation into known adverse weather conditions with a known aircraft deficiency, and his ensuing spatial disorientation, which resulted in ground impact during an uncontrolled descent.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL95LA019
- Event ID
- 20001206X02553
- Case number
- ATL95LA019
- 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: b5795564da89dee403fe7e4af00d7a86cdcc94406ee5b1862b15b45b6bf9707f; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:55:47.414Z.