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ATL87LA236 · Cessna A185F

22 Aug 1987 · MT AIRY, NC, United States

Cessna A185F · Accident: near collision between aircraft during landing

From Fayetteville Regional Airport - Grannis Field (FAY) to an unrecorded destination

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's registration. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
ATL87LA236
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
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 A185F

Aircraft type
Cessna 185
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
N3463Y Possible conflict
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fayetteville Regional Airport - Grannis Field (FAY), Fayetteville, NCTo 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
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
Landing · landing roll
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
Near collision between aircraft
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 › Brakes(normal), improper use of
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Planning/decision, improper

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER CESSNA 185, N3462Y, ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR RWY 18, THE UNICOM OPERATOR WARNED THE PLT OF ANOTHER ACFT IN THE PATTERN. THE OTHER ACFT WAS A MOONEY MITE, N4129. THE CESSNA PLT CONTD HIS APCH, BUT DIDN'T SEE THE MOONEY MITE UNTIL AFTER THE CESSNA TOUCHED DOWN. WHEN THE CESSNA PLT LOWERED HIS NOSE IN A WHEEL LNDG, HE SAW THE OTHER ACFT COMING FROM THE OPPOSITE DRCTN. THE MOONEY MITE PLT SAID HE WAS ON THE 1ST 1/3 OF RWY 36 WHEN HE SAW THE CESSNA ON THE 1ST 1/3 OF RWY 18. BOTH PLTS STEERED TO THE RIGHT. AS THE CESSNA WENT OFF THE RWY, THE PLT WAS APPLYING FULL BRAKES. HE SAID THE ACFT 'MIRED DOWN IN THE GRASS' & FLIPPED OVER. THE MOONEY MITE DID NOT HAVE AN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (NO RADIO OR LGTS).THE SUN HAD JUST SET & THE RWY LGTS WERE ON. ACCORDING TO THE MOONEY MITE PLT, THERE WAS STILL 'GOOD LIGHT' & THE VISIBILITY WAS GOOD. THE CESSNA PLT RPRTD THE WIND WAS CALM.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL87LA236
Event ID
20001213X31716
Case number
ATL87LA236
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 1987-08-23.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 41de81bb881806c05b97ef65a4e495153f73c7fa77150bb8dba2a5eb054b7130; retrieved 2026-09-23T12:18:26.236Z.