ATL86LA113 · Cessna 150
Cessna 150 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From LONESOME PINE, VA to Greenwood, SC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL86LA113
- 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 150
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N7792E
- Operator
- Albert G. Harris · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From LONESOME PINE, VATo Greenwood, SC
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 › Carburetor heat, not used
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
N7792E EXPERIENCED A GRADUAL POWER LOSS WHILE EN ROUTE TO GREENWOOD. S.C. VIA APPALACHIA, VA. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE QUIT AND RESTARTED FOR A FEW SECONDS AFTER HE HAD BEEN FLYING ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES. THIS CYCLE CONTINUED FOR ABOUT TWO MORE TIMES,BEFORE THE ENGINE STOPPED COMPLETELY. HE PROCEEDED TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN A WOODED MOUNTAINOUS AREA. THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK A TREE FLIPPED INVERTED AND EXPLODED ON IMPACT WITH THE GROUND. THE AIRCRAFT WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. THE ACCIDENT SITE WAS ABOUT 180 DEGREES FROM THE INTENDED ROUTE OF FLIGHT. THE PILOT'S BROTHER-IN LAW STATED THAT THE PILOT HAD PLANNED TO OVERFLY THE FAMILY HOME TO SHOW THEM THE AIRCRAFT. THE CONDITION DESCRIBED BY THE PILOT WAS INDICATIVE OF CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CARBURETOR ICE. THE PILOT DID NOT REPORT APPLYING CARBUERTOR HEAT. THE TEMP/DEW POINT AT TRI-CITIES AIRPORT WAS 68/43 DEGREES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL86LA113
- Event ID
- 20001213X33218
- Case number
- ATL86LA113
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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: 7edd7dad3d17c1a0b5bd41994129648e081ec0236fc6f4f28d5d0308dd9718bf; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:00:28.243Z.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: destination. The narrative states N7792E lost power "WHILE EN ROUTE TO GREENWOOD. S.C. VIA APPALACHIA, VA"; the recorded state NC is wrong.