ATL89FA142 · Embraer EMB-110-P1
Flight Line Embraer EMB-110-P1 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM) to Maury County Airport (MRC)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL89FA142
- 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
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Embraer EMB-110-P1
- Aircraft type
- Embraer EMB-110
- 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
- N95PB
- Operator
- Flight Line
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM), Memphis, TNTo Maury County Airport (MRC)
- 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 final
- 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
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Dual student › Altitude, inadequate
- Dual student › Fatigue
- Pilot in command(cfi) › In-flight planning/decision, poor
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Remedial action, delayed
- Weather evaluation › Misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER CONDUCTING GROUND TRAINING ALL DAY, THE INSTRUCTOR/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND HIS TRAINEE FLEW AN EMB-110-P1 TO MEMPHIS TO EXCHANGE AIRPLANES. GROUND FOG HAD STARTED TO FORM PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. AFTER EXCHANGING AIRPLANES, THEY MADE THE RETURN FLIGHT TO COLUMBIA. THEY OBTAINED RADAR VECTORS TO THE FINAL APPROACH COURSE FOR THE SDF AT COLUMBIA. THE THICK FOG RESULTED IN A MISSED APPROACH. DURING THE MISSED APPROACH, THE RUNWAY WAS VISIBLE FROM ABOVE AND THE CREW INDICATED THAT THEY WOULD TRY FOR A VFR APPROACH AND LANDING. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES 2350 FEET FROM THE RUNWAY IN A WINGS LEVEL ATTITUDE. THE TOPS OF THE TREES WERE BROKEN 41 FEET ABOVE THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD ALTITUDE. THE TRAINEE HAD BEEN WITHOUT REST FOR AT LEAST 30 HOURS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
PILOT ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A VFR LANDING IN INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS THAT WERE BELOW MINIMUMS FOR THE PUBLISHED INSTRUMENT APPROACH AND COLLIDED WITH TREES AND THE GROUND AFTER ALLOWING THE AIRPLANE TO DESCEND BELOW THE PROPER ALTITUDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL89FA142
- Event ID
- 20001213X28234
- Case number
- ATL89FA142
- 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: 55fc46e6ff15d33ad5ac9e557cc1aa8b419fd7a799388af4c3cacc77576f6271; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:19:56.840Z.