MIA89GA144 · Douglas C-47
Douglas C-47 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA89GA144
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Government
- 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
Douglas C-47
- Aircraft type
- Douglas C-47
- 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
- N28889
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH), Marathon, FLTo 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Maneuvering · aerial application
- 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
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FLT (A MONROE COUNTY MOSQUITO CONTROL OPN) BEGAN AT ABOUT 1740 EDT TO CONDUCT LOW ALT SPRAYING. WHEN IT DID NOT RETURN, A SEARCH WAS INITIATED. AT ABOUT 0245, THE ACFT WAS FOUND IN A REMOTE AREA ON WATER KEY NEAR THE TOWN OF SUMMERLAND KEY, FL. EVIDENCE AT THE ACDNT SCENE SUGGESTED THE ACFT STRUCK 40 FT HIGH MANGROVE TREES WITH THE LEFT WING AS THE PLTS WERE MAKING A PROCEDURE TURN TO START ANOTHER SPRAY RUN. NO PREIMPACT FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT OR ENGS WAS FOUND. THERE WERE NO KNOWN WITNESSES, BUT THE ACDNT WAS ESTD TO HAVE OCCURRED AT ABOUT 2030 EDT. SUNSET WAS AT 1952 EDT. ABOUT 22 MI SW AT KEY WEST, THE 1750 WX WAS IN PART: 1500' SCAT, 10 MI VIS, WIND FROM 330 DEG AT 10 KTS. APRX 85 MI NNE, THE WIND WAS FROM 100 DEG AT 11 KTS.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO ASSURE PROPER ALTITUDE AND CLEARANCE WAS MAINTAINED ABOVE THE TERRAIN AND TREES. THE TREES AND LIGHT CONDITION AT DUSK WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA89GA144
- Event ID
- 20001213X28371
- Case number
- MIA89GA144
- 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 1989-05-03.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 18bfc53f5cff32ce839d9b187767d53d1025243b1b00a957b9172c7e5035756b; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:38:51.863Z.