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FTW89FA117 · Cessna 152

25 Jun 1989 · Fort Worth, TX, United States

Acme School of Aeronautics Cessna 152 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during takeoff

From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW) to Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW89FA117
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
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 152

Aircraft type
Cessna 152
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
N24795
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW)To Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW), Fort Worth, TX
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
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
In flight encounter with weather
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
Stall
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 › Stall, inadvertent

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE WAS CLEARED TO LAND ON RUNWAY 34R AND WAS ESTABLISHED ON FINAL, WHEN THE WINDS SHIFTED FROM 030 DEGREES AT 8 KNOTS TO 060 DEGREES AT 25 KNOTS. THE TOWER CONTROLLER HAD PREVIOUSLY ADVISED ALL TRAFFIC OF A LARGE THUNDER STORM ALONG THE EASTERN PERIMETER OF THE AIRPORT. THE CONTROLLER THEN ADVISED THE PILOT OF A WIND SHEAR ALERT. THE PILOT EXECUTED A TOUCH AND GO. THE WINDS SHIFTED AGAIN TO 090 DEGREES AT 20 KNOTS GUSTING TO 26 KNOTS. THE CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PILOT THAT HE COULD LAND ON RUNWAY 09. THE CONTROLLER THEN INSTRUCTED ALL AIRCRAFT TO GO AROUND AS THE WIND VELOCITY INCREASED TO 30 PLUS KNOTS. HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS WERE OCCURRING OVER THE AIRPORT. THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED TO BE IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE SLOW FLIGHT. IT ROLLED TO THE LEFT AND STALLED, THEN IT IMPACTED THE GROUND AND BURNED.

Probable cause

THE INADVERTENT STALL OF THE AIRPLANE BY THE PILOT. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S DISREGARD OF THE WEATHER ADVISORY, THE UNFAVORABLE WINDSHIFT, AND THE THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW89FA117
Event ID
20001213X28578
Case number
FTW89FA117
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: 7b9166f5106250314c1f3822734d3cfd5136b0062ce18785c13290d0f6a8b43f; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:16:06.435Z.