ATL89FA196 · Beech A-36
Beech A-36 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Kinston Regional Jetport At Stallings Field (ISO) to W27 · Smithfield, NC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL89FA196
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech A-36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft A-36
- 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
- N25805
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Kinston Regional Jetport At Stallings Field (ISO), Kinston, NCTo W27 · Smithfield, NC
- 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
- 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
- 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 › Aircraft control, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Chapel Hill, NC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AT 2028, AFTER A MISSED APCH AT DESTINATION, THE PLT REPORTED HE COULDN'T GET THE AUTOPILOT OFF & WAS FIGHTING HARD TO CONTROL THE AIRPLANE. ATC OFFERED SUGGESTIONS TO DISENGAGE AUTOPILOT, INCLUDING TURNING OFF MASTER SWITCH; PLT REPORTED NO CHANGE. DURING THE NEXT 45 MINUTES THE PILOT WAS PROVIDED VECTORS AND ASSISTANCE; PLT FREQUENTLY DID NOT RESPOND TO INSTRUCTIONS. FINAL VECTORS WERE TO CHAPEL HILL AIRPORT; RADAR DATA LOST. WRECKAGE ORIENTED OVER AN AREA OF A NORMAL BASE TO RWY 8. ELEVATOR TRIM WAS FOUND IN A FULL TAB-UP (NOSE-DOWN) POSITION. APRX 45 LBS OF STICK FORCE WOULD BE NECESSARY TO HOLD THE AIRPLANE LEVEL. THE APPROVED FLIGHT MANUAL SUPPLEMENT FOR THE KING KFC 200 AUTOPILOT SYSTEM CONTAINED EMERGENCY PROCEDURES FOR AUTOPILOT/ELECTRIC TRIM MALFUNCTIONS. THESE PROCEDURES REQUIRE THAT THE AIRCRAFT BE RETRIMMED MANUALLY.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE WHILE MANEUVERING FOR A LANDING. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES FOR AN AUTOPILOT MALFUNCTION, AND PILOT FATIGUE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL89FA196
- Event ID
- 20001213X29026
- Case number
- ATL89FA196
- 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 1989-08-12.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6936c90a43ea850f784d630d69ad606a18609797460b2ca9c8f0c92543ca203e; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:11:55.350Z.