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Mountain Air Cargo Cessna 208B accident

5 Jun 1987 · Atlanta, GA, United States

Cessna 208B and New Creations Beech 58 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing

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Event

NTSB case
ATL87FA161
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
Charter & commuter
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

Aircraft 1 · Cessna 208B

Aircraft type
Cessna 208
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
N917FE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Southwest Georgia Regional Airport (ABY), Albany, GA
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Taxi · to runway
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
On ground/water 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
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Beech 58

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 58
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
N1653W
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), New Orleans, LA
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Taxi · to runway
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
On ground/water 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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Instructions, written/verbal, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not maintained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, not maintained

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Atlanta, GA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE TWO ACFT COLLIDED ON A RAMP WHILE EACH WAS TAXIING TO RWY 8L FOR T/O. BOTH ACFT WERE AUTHORIZED BY ATC TO TAXI TO THE RWY; THE CESSNA WAS INSTRUCTED BY ATC TO FOLLOW THE BEECH. THE TWO ACFT WERE HDG IN THE SAME GENERAL DIRECTION ON CONVERGING PATHS WHEN THEY COLLIDED; THE RIGHT-REAR SIDE OF THE CESSNA FUSELAGE STRUCK THE BEECH LEFT-WING TIP. EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT DAMAGE INDICATED THAT THE CESSNA WAS OVERTAKING THE BEECH WHEN THE COLLISION OCCURRED. THE BEECH PLT REPORTED SEEING THE CESSNA OVERTAKING HIM AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED MOMENTS BEFORE THE COLLISION. THE CESSNA PLT REPORTED THAT HE NEVER SAW THE BEECH PRIOR TO IMPACT. THE CESSNA WAS CONFIGURED FOR CARG0-CARRYING AND HAD NO WINDOWS INSTALLED AFT OF THE COCKPIT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL87FA161
Event ID
20001213X31077
Case number
ATL87FA161
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: b61e471fffe0e47f842296cbc0d5a0064bcbcfc43c89c2c269927716caacfeb8; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:40:40.497Z.