ATL88FA068 · Piper PA-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20
Piper PA-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Louisburg, NC to Rutherfordton, NC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL88FA068
- 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
- 4 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N2869C
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Louisburg, NCTo Rutherfordton, 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 · IFR missed 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
- 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 › IFR procedure, not followed
- Pilot in command › Missed approach, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS CLEARED FOR THE ADF APPROACH. THE AIRCRAFT WAS LAST OBSERVED ON RADAR ABOUT ONE MILE INSIDE THE RBN. THE AIRCRAFT WAS LOCATED ON DECEMBER 27 ABOUT 4 NM NE OF THE AIRPORT. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE TREES AT ABOUT THE 2270-FOOT LEVEL OF CARSON MT. THE FIELD ELEVATION AT THE AIRPORT IS 1078. THE MDA FOR THE ADF APPROACH IS 1540 FEET . THE MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURES REQUIRE THAT THE PILOT TURN LEFT, CLIMB TO 3000 FEET, RETURN TO THE RBN AND HOLD. IN PERFORMING THE MISSED APPROACH THE PLT FAILED TO CLIMB TO AND MAINTAIN 3000 FEET AS INSTRUCTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL88FA068
- Event ID
- 20001213X32656
- Case number
- ATL88FA068
- 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: 77a9ca90b143fdc9e98f14a1224d21920320f41174a674fb8c933243661db173; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:51:50.127Z.