ATL92FA138 · Kory G. Cornum SH-3R
Kory G. Cornum SH-3R · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO) to Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL92FA138
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Kory G. Cornum SH-3R
- Aircraft type
- Kory G Cornum SH-3
- 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
- N383KR
- Operator
- Cornum, Kory G. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO), Auburn, ALTo Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO)
- 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
- 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/spin
- 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
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT AND A PILOT-RATED PASSENGER WERE FLYING THE HOME-BUILT, EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT IN THE LOCAL AREA. THE REPORTED CEILING WAS 1,100 FEET (BROKEN). THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED PERFORMING A CLIMBING, HIGH BANK ANGLE TURN BENEATH THE CLOUD DECK PRIOR TO A LEFT, DESCENDING SPIRAL INTO THE TERRAIN. SEVERAL WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THERE WAS NO ENGINE NOISE DURING THE UNCONTROLLED DESCENT. THE WRECKAGE WAS LOCATED IN A WOODED AREA, ABOUT 200 YARDS FROM A HIGHWAY. AN EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE INDICATED THAT THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE TERRAIN IN A STEEP, NOSE LOW ATTITUDE WITH LITTLE FORWARD SPEED. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT THE AIRCRAFT HAD ADEQUATE FUEL FOR THE FLIGHT. NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DATA FROM THE ENGINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INDICATED THAT THE ENGINE WAS AT IDLE POWER AT THE TIME OF GROUND IMPACT. THE THROTTLE WAS FOUND IN THE IDLE POSITION, WITH THE PROP AND MIXTURE CONTROLS FULL FORWARD. AN EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE AND AIRFRAME REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A PRE-EXISTING MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED AFTER INITIATING A MANEUVER FROM LOW ALTITUDE. A FACTOR WAS THE LACK OF SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL92FA138
- Event ID
- 20001211X15038
- Case number
- ATL92FA138
- 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: 7414835bf307e9c8d82825cd1b9bd9aa1e4404ad261a835a2bb41f30b313895a; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:02:30.708Z.