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MKC88FA089 · Aero Commander 690A

17 May 1988 · Little Rock, AR, United States

Aero Commander 690A · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach

From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM) to Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT)

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Event

NTSB case
MKC88FA089
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

Aero Commander 690A

Aircraft type
Aero Commander 690
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
N660RB
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM), Memphis, TNTo Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT), Little Rock, AR
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
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
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
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Fatigue(lack of sleep)
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Level off, not performed

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PLT HAD JUST RTRND FM VACATION IN THE BAHAMAS BFR STARTING A FLT FM LITTLE ROCK TO ATLANTA WITH AN INTERMEDIATE STOPAT MEMPHIS. THIS ITINERARY WAS FLWD BY A RTRN FLT TO LITTLE ROCK VIA A REVERSE ROUTING. WITNESSES RPRTD THE PLT SAID HE HAD ONLY 2 HRS OF SLEEP BFR DEPG LITTLE ROCK & THAT HE WAS REALLY TIRED. ALSO, COMPANY PSNL NOTED THE PLT LOOKED 'EXTREMELY TIRED' & WAS 'REALLY DRAGGING' PRIOR TO THE LAST LEG OF THE FLT FM MEMPHIS TO LITTLE ROCK. ACCORDING TO ATC PSNL, THE FLT WAS ROUTINE UNTIL THE ACFT WAS ARRIVING AT LITTLE ROCK. DRG ARRIVAL, THE PLT WAS CLRD TO DSCND FM 7000' TO 2000' AT HIS DISCRETION FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 22. AT 0522 CDT, THE PLT RPRTD THE ARPT IN SIGHT & WAS CLRD FOR A VISUAL APCH. ABT 4 MIN LATER, HE AGAIN RPRTD THE ARPT IN SIGHT & WAS CLRD TO LAND. AT 1031, RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST & THE ACFT CRASHED ABT 4 MI WEST OF THE ARPT. INITIAL IMPACT WAS IN AN OPEN FIELD WHILE DSCNDG IN A RELATIVELY LEVEL ATTITUDE. THE ACFT BCM AIRBORNE FOR ABOUT 3/4 MI, THEN CRASHED OUT OF CTL IN THE ARKANSAS RIVER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC88FA089
Event ID
20001213X25773
Case number
MKC88FA089
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: 58221a7a0b4b0472b0520a84dc62f3e25896ec47863891a4bb4095b5e7227c53; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:11:23.934Z.