MKC86FA179 · Lockheed 18-56 (HOWARD 250) 18-56 (HOW
Lockheed 18-56 (HOWARD 250) 18-56 (HOW · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC86FA179
- 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
- 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
Lockheed 18-56 (HOWARD 250) 18-56 (HOW
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed 18
- 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
- N252K
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT), Little Rock, ARTo 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 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Aircraft handling › Uncontrolled
- Aircraft weight and balance › Improper
- Company/operator management › Improper use of procedure
- Copilot/second pilot › Impairment(alcohol)
- Pilot in command › Impairment(alcohol)
- Pilot in command › Improper use of procedure
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Planning/decision › Improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Texarkana, AR, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE APCHG FOR A LNDG, THE ACFT PITCHED UP, ROLLED INVERTED & IMPACTED THE TERRAIN TO THE LEFT OF THE RWY. NO PREIMPACTPART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FND; HOWEVER, AN INV REVEALED THE ACFT HAD BEEN LOADED WITH THE CENTER-OF-GRAVITY (CG) WELLBEHIND THE AFT LIMIT. THE ACFT HAD BEEN WEIGHED ON 9/8/84. LATER, ON 1/2/86, WEIGHT & BALANCE DATA HAD BEEN RECOMPUTED AFTER REMOVAL OF A RADAR & AN AUTOPLT, BUT AN ERROR HAD BEEN MADE DURING THE WEIGHT & BALANCE PREPARATION. SUBSEQUENTLY,THE ACFT WAS OPERATED IN A TAIL HEAVY CONDITION. WHETHER USING THE EXISTING OR THE CORRECT DATA, CALCULATIONS FOR THIS FLT SHOULD HAVE SHOWN THE CG WAS BEHIND THE AFT LIMIT. THE ELEV TRIM TAB WAS FND TRIMMED TO A FULL NOSE DOWN POSITION; 200 LBS OF BALLAST HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN THE VICINTY OF THE AFT CARGO DOOR. TESTS OF LUNG TISSUE SHOWED THE PLT & COPLT HAD ALCOHOL LVLS OF 0.044% & 0.171%, RESPECTIVELY. THE PLT'S URINE TESTED 0.035% FOR ALCOHOL. ALSO, PHENYLTOLOXAMINE, ACETAMINOPHEN & CHLORPHENIRAMINE (MEDICATIONS COMMONLY USED IN DECONGESTANTS/ANTIHISTAMINES) WERE DETECTED IN HIS URINE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC86FA179
- Event ID
- 20001213X34562
- Case number
- MKC86FA179
- 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: 21a80d5169f5672bd841b85e04c09de73d4713a6e6fda78c4a2342efd8b3a61f; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:18:47.116Z.