ATL86FA212 · Cessna 172
Cessna 172 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Bowman Field (LOU) to Clarksburg, WV
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL86FA212
- 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
- 2 · 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
Cessna 172
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N96701
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bowman Field (LOU), Louisville, KYTo Clarksburg, WV
- 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 final 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 › Decision height, not used
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH A TREE WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 21. THE FLIGHT HAD BEEN CLEARED FOR THE APPROACH AFTER THE PILOT REPORTED HAVING THE AIRPORT IN SIGHT. THERE WAS NO CURRENT WEATHER OBSERVATION AVAILABLE AT THAT TIME, BUT A LOCAL AIR TAXI OPERATOR REPORTED THAT AT 0610 EDT, THE WX WAS, IN PART: 200 FT OBSCD, VISIBILITY 1/8 MI. THE APPROACH PROCEDURE REQUIRED THAT THE PILOT USE THE MORGANTOWN ALTIMETER SETTING AND ADD 100 FEET TO THE DECISION HEIGHT.THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED ABOUT 2-1/2 MILES SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. THE DECISION HEIGHT FOR THE APPROACH WAS 1700 FEET MSL. THE AIRPORT ELEVATION WAS 1203 FT. THE CRASH SITE WAS AT APRX THE SAME ELEVATION AS THE ARPT. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS EVIDENT. THE FLT PLAN INDCD THAT THE PERSON IN THE COPLT'S SEAT WAS THE PIC.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL86FA212
- Event ID
- 20001213X34061
- Case number
- ATL86FA212
- 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: a5a1dc450d18d24f4415594b8d0ae0673ccda0aa0e86ee182d201c1b76cb7034; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:27:53.463Z.