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ATL89LA049 · Cessna 172M

2 Dec 1988 · Griffin, GA, United States

Syndrome Fighters Cessna 172M · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

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Event

NTSB case
ATL89LA049
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

Cessna 172M

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
N92388
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
Approach · VFR pattern base
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
Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
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
Fuel starvation
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Fuel system, primer system › Unlocked
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER A PREFLIGHT AND RUNUP THE PILOT MADE A TAKEOFF AND REMAINED IN CLOSED TRAFFIC FOR LANDING PRACTICE. ON DOWNWIND, OPPOSITE THE DESIRED POINT OF TOUCHDOWN, HE RETARDED POWER, APPLIED CARB HEAT AND SLOWED THE AIRPLANE. TURNING BASE, THE ACFT LOST POWER. THE PILOT SELECTED A SITE FOR THE FORCED LANDING AND THE ACFT NOSED OVER DURING THE LANDING. THE PRIMER WAS FOUND IN THE FULL OUT POSITION AND THE LEFT FUEL CAP WAS MISSING. TWO CYLINDERS HAD THE BOTTOM PLUGS FOULED BY RAW FUEL. THE PLT HAD RENTED THE 172 TO PRACTICE FOR HIS BFR WHICH WAS DUE BY THE END OF THE MONTH. THE PILOT'S PRIVATE PILOT CERTIFICATE HAD BEEN ISSUED IN DECEMBER 1986.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL89LA049
Event ID
20001213X27378
Case number
ATL89LA049
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: b99254f5e5fc47ee5106cb718489f973cdc67b8828156947661dd7aed7d9ee13; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:20:07.814Z.