Napier Air Service Cessna 402B accident
Cessna 402B · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL88FA186
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
Cessna 402B
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 402
- 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
- N8493A
- Operator
- Napier Air Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GA
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- 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
- Flight control, elevator tab › Jammed
- Flt control syst, elevator trim/tab control › Disconnected
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRPLANE USED ABOUT 1/2 OF THE 8,602 FT RWY FOR THE T/O ROLL. AFTER T/O IT PITCHED NOSE-DOWN BRIEFLY OVER THE RWY DURING INIT CLIMB. THE PLT RADIOED THAT HE WAS HAVING A PROBLEM WITH THE ELEVATOR WHICH REQUIRED 'FULL BACK PRESSURE' TO KEEP THE NOSE UP, AND THAT HE WAS RETURNING TO LAND. AFTER MANEUVERING AROUND THE ARPT, THE ACFT PITCHED 70-80 DEG NOSE DN AND DOVE INTO TERRAIN OFF THE APPCH END OF THE RWY. THE WRECKAGE EXAM REVEALED THAT THE BOLT SECURING THE ELEVATOR TRIM TAB PUSHROD TO THE ACTUATOR WAS MISSING. THE ROD HAD BECOME WEDGED INSIDE THE ELEVATOR WHICH RESULTED IN AN EXTREME TAB UP (NOSE DN) CONDITION. THE ACFT UNDERWENT AN ANNUAL INSP 2 DAYS/5 FLT HRS EARLIER. THE IA MECH RPTD THAT NO MAINT WAS PERFORMED ON THE TAB SYS, AND THAT HE WAS CERTAIN THE BOLT WAS PROPERLY SAFETIED. ANOTHER PLT WHO FLEW THE ACFT THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT RPTD THAT HE FOUND THE PUSHROD TO BE SECURE DURING HIS PREFLT INSP. THE 402B POH INDICATED THAT THE ACFT SHOULD HAVE REQ ABOUT 1,200 FT FOR THE T/O GROUND ROLL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL88FA186
- Event ID
- 20001213X25601
- Case number
- ATL88FA186
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1988-05-26.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 95261ac0d45b1abdec51a1f78ba426101f8f2a977f50b04d33b632f6cc1c6266; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:11:12.446Z.