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FTW85LA098 · Cessna 182Q

19 Jan 1985 · Abilene, TX, United States

Cessna 182Q · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW) to Abilene Regional Airport (ABI)

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
FTW85LA098
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 182Q

Aircraft type
Cessna 182
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
N735QN
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route Possible conflict
From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW), Fort Worth, TXTo Abilene Regional Airport (ABI)
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
En route · cruise
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 encounter with weather
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 › Descent, not corrected
  • Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, performed
  • Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Abilene, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

DETERIORATING WX WAS ENCOUNTERED & THE PLT ELECTED TO LAND SHORT OF THE ORIGINAL DESTN. HE WAS PROVIDED VECTORS FOR AN ILS APCH TO RWY 35R AT ABILINE, TX. DURING THE NIGHT APCH, HE ENCOUNTERED STRONG GUSTY WINDS, SEVERE TURBULENCE & RESTRICTED VISIBILITY. THE PLT STATED THAT AT LEAST ONE TIME, THE AIRSPEED DROPPED 20 KTS, INDICATING WIND SHEAR. ALSO, HE STATED THAT AS HE CONTACTED THE TOWER, HE GOT A BRIEF LOOK AT THE ARPT LIGHTS & STARTED A GENTLE TURN TO CORRECT TO THE LOCALIZER. SHORTLY AFTER THAT, AFTER HE WAS CLEARED FOR THE ILS APCH & LANDING, THE ACFT IMPACTED THE GROUND WHILE STILL SOUTH OF THE OUTER MARKER. PRIOR TO THE FLT, THE PLT HAD OBTAINED A WX BRIEFING & WAS WARNED OF WIDE SPREAD CLOUD COVER, GUSTY WINDS & WIND SHEAR ASSOCIATED WITH A PASSING FRONTAL SYS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW85LA098
Event ID
20001214X35523
Case number
FTW85LA098
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-01-20.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: f0372789881a061adaef499e0402e1327bf08680bbe80559b3cb8f2b11f218b8; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:21:49.884Z.