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ATL87LA037 · Cessna 150L

7 Dec 1986 · Cullowhee, NC, United States

Cessna 150L · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff

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Event

NTSB case
ATL87LA037
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 150L

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
N6860G
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Takeoff · roll/run
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 on ground/water
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

  • Dual student › Directional control, not maintained
  • Ground loop/swerve › Inadvertent
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER NOT FLYING FOR ABOUT 7 YRS, THE PLT OBTAINED FLT INSTRUCTION IN PREPARATION FOR A BIENNIAL FLT REVIEW. HIS 1ST FLT WAS COMPLETED 4 DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACDNT. THE ACDNT FLT WAS TO BE DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO TAKEOFFS & LANDINGS. THE STUDENT PLT WAS RPRTD TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE 1ST LANDING WAS TO BE A FULL STOP, FOLLOWED BY A TAXI-BACK FOR ANOTHER TAKEOFF. AS THE ACFT WAS ON THE LANDING ROLL, HE APPLIED INPUTS TO THE CONTROLS TO MOVE THE ACFT TO THE RGT SIDE OF THE RWY TO TURN BACK. AT APRX THAT TIME, THE INSTRUCTOR (CFI) RPRTDLY TOLD THE STUDENT TO MAKE THE LANDING A TOUCH-&-GO.AFTER POWER WAS APPLIED FOR TAKEOFF, THE ACFT VEERED OFF THE RGT SIDE OF THE RWY, WENT DOWN AN EMBANKMENT & CAME TO REST INVERTED. THE CFI SAID THE STUDENT RESISTED HIS INPUTS TO THE FLT CONTROLS TO CORRECT THE SITUATION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL87LA037
Event ID
20001213X35301
Case number
ATL87LA037
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: 4dc38101feb6f1f11781fd91093e6deec32dea1d1f38afe4f89c12060d86e0a8; retrieved 2026-09-22T01:07:37.225Z.