Heleasco Twenty Four Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340A incident
Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340A · Incident: loss of control in flight en route
From an unrecorded airport to Golden Triangle Regional Airport (GTR)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL91IA016
- 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
- Incident
- 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
- 0 · 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
- Airline
- 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
Saab-Scania AB (Saab) 340A
- Aircraft type
- Saab Scania Ab (saab) 340
- 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
- N322PX
- Operator
- Heleasco Twenty Four
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Golden Triangle Regional Airport (GTR), Columbus, MS
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- None
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Flight controls, improper use of
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
NO PASSENGERS WERE ON THE AIRPLANE WHEN IT DEPARTED MEMPHIS. THE FLIGHT WAS UNEVENTFUL UNTIL THE CAPTAIN FELT A VIBRATION ON THE LEFT SIDE AND BELIEVED THAT THE PROPELLER WAS THE ORIGIN. HE ASKED THE FIRST OFFICER (FO) HAD HE EVER SEEN THE PROPELLER IN FEATHER; THE FO SAID NO. THE CAPTAIN INSTRUCTED THE FO TO GO INTO THE PASSENGER CABIN AND LOOK AT THE LEFT PROPELLER IN FEATHER. SECONDS LATER THE AIRPLANE STARTED A SERIES OF VIOLENT GYRATIONS, WHICH THREW HIM AND THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AGAINST THE INTERIOR OF THE CABIN. AFTER LOSING SEVERAL THOUSAND FEET FROM 11,000 FEET, THE FLIGHT CREW MANAGED TO REGAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. A REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND THE REPORTED VIBRATION FELT ONLY BY THE CAPTAIN, FAILED TO REVEAL A MECHANICAL PROBLEM WHICH WOULD HAVE PRODUCED A VIBRATION. THE PROCEDURES EMPLOYED BY THE CAPTAIN WERE NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAA OR COMPANY APPROVED DIRECTIVES.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES FOR TROUBLESHOOTING INFLIGHT MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS AND IMPROPERLY USED THE FLIGHT AND ENGINE CONTROLS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL91IA016
- Event ID
- 20001212X24562
- Case number
- ATL91IA016
- 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, damage. 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: bdbb5cef467eb6a5b45e968e4b6b9992ee15838a1991dd9f1c5ce841dcc933f5; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:58:32.593Z.