ATL88LA141 · Cessna 170A
Cessna 170A and Cessna R172K · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL88LA141
- 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
- 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
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Cessna 170A
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 170
- 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
- N1213D
- Operator
- Walter H. Klussmann · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Southwest Georgia Regional Airport (ABY), Albany, GATo not recorded
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Cessna R172K
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N736LL
- Operator
- Robert T. Jacob · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- 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
- Landing
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Athens, GA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT OF A CESSNA 170A HAD DEPARTED ALBANY, GA VFR WITH NO FLT PLAN FOR ATHENS, GA. A CESSNA R172K FROM THE ATHENS AIRPORT WAS ENGAGED IN LOCAL FLYING. THE 172 RETD FROM DOING AIRWORK AND WAS MAKING A FULL STOP LDG. DURING HIS LANDING ROLL THE PLT REPTD THAT HIS AIRPLANE SUDDENLY YAWED 90 DEGS TO THE LEFT AND SKIDDED DOWN THE RUNWAY TO A STOP. HE STATED THAT WHEN HE EXITED HIS AIRPLANE HE SAW THE 170 RESTING ON HIS TAIL. THE 170 PLT STATED THAT HE STARTED CALLING ATHENS ATCT ABOUT 10 MILES OUT AND CONTINUED REPTG HIS POSITION UNTIL 1/2 MILE FINAL. THE PLT REPTD THAT HE DID NOT SEE THE 172 AS IT WAS DIRECTLY BELOW HIM. HE STATED THAT HIS AIRPLANE SETTLED ONTO THE 172 DURING HIS FLARE FOR LDG. THE VFR CHART, CURRENT AT THE TIME DEPICTED ATHENS AS A CONTROLLED FIELD WITH AN APT TRAFFIC AREA ALTHOUGH THE TABLE IN THE CHART LEGEND INDICATED THAT THE ATCT WAS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THE TOWER HAD BEEN CLOSED SINCE 1981.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL88LA141
- Event ID
- 20001213X25396
- Case number
- ATL88LA141
- 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: 158cecd17e0b314276d24d7648267220eccef1e29b94e46adaab156c479039b3; retrieved 2026-09-23T10:33:55.078Z.