ATL94FA028 · Bellanca 17-30A
Bellanca 17-30A · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (BQK) to LaGrange Callaway Airport (LGC)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL94FA028
- 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
Bellanca 17-30A
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 17
- 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
- N4195B
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (BQK), Brunswick, GATo LaGrange Callaway Airport (LGC)
- 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 · IFR final approach
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, continued
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
MOMENTS BEFORE THE FLIGHT DEPARTED, THE PILOT REQUESTED AN ENGINE JUMP START FROM THE LOCAL FIXED BASE OPERATOR. HE TOLD THE MAINTENANCE PERSON THAT HE LEFT THE LORAN ON AND THE BATTERY WAS COMPLETLEY DRAINED. THE MAINTENANCE PERSON URGED THE PILOT TO CHARGE THE BATTERY BEFORE STARTING THE TRIP, BUT THE PILOT SAID, HE HAD AN IMPORTANT MEETING AND MUST RETURN. ALL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL HANDLING WAS NORMAL. ACCORDING TO THE APPROACH CONTROLLER, THE FLIGHT'S PROFILE APPEARED NORMAL ON RADAR AND THE PILOT DID NOT REPORT ANY DIFFICULTIES. AS THE FLIGHT CONTINUED THE APPROACH TO LAND, A WITNESS SAW THE AIRPLANE IN SUCH AN ATTITUDE THAT HE COULD SEE THE WHITE PAINTED TOP OF THE AIRPLANE. THE WITNESS SAID, THERE WERE NO LIGHTS ILLUMINATED ON THE AIRPLANE PRIOR TO IT'S IMPACT WITH TH GROUND. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE FAILED TO DISCLOSE A MECHANICAL PROBLEM. ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS, INCLUDING THE BATTERY, WERE DESTROYED BY IMPACT FORCES. EXAMINATION OF A NAVIGATIONAL LIGHT RECOVERED FROM THE AIRPLANE FAILED TO DISCLOSE ANY UNUSUAL DEFORMATION TO THE BULB FILAMENT. AN EXAMINATION OF FAA RECORDS FAILED TO DISCLOSE AN AIRMAN INSTRUMENT CERTIFICATION FOR THE PILOT.
Probable cause
WAS THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO CORRECT A KNOWN LOW BATTERY CONDITION BEFORE DEPARTING, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER DURING AN INSTRUMENT APPROACH. FACTORS WERE THE DARK NIGHT AND THE LOW SCATTERED CLOUD LAYER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL94FA028
- Event ID
- 20001211X13816
- Case number
- ATL94FA028
- 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: 5159fc2b55b1b239bd83aec575a4cb42468d79de16ef72ce20a8819133acc2eb; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:17:33.874Z.