ATL85FLT04 · Grumman AG-CAT-G-114 AG-CAT-G-1
Dixie Dusters Grumman AG-CAT-G-114 AG-CAT-G-1 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Monroe County Airport (MNV) to Monroe County Airport (MNV)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL85FLT04
- 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
Grumman AG-CAT-G-114 AG-CAT-G-1
- Aircraft type
- Grumman AG-CAT-G-114
- 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
- N4654
- Operator
- Dixie Dusters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Monroe County Airport (MNV), Madisonville, TNTo Monroe County Airport (MNV), Madisonville, TN
- 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 137: Agricultural
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 engine power
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, continued
- Pilot in command › Performance data, disregarded
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT CRASHED IN AN OPEN PASTURE AFTER LOSS OF POWER FOLLOWING A TAKEOFF FROM AN ADJACENT PASTURE. THE ACFT HAD EXPEREINCED A POWER LOSS A FEW MINUTES EARLIER WHICH HAD FORCED THE PLT TO MAKE AN EMERGENGY LNDG. AFTER GRND CHECKING THE POWERPLANT THE PLT DECIDED TO MAKE A 2ND ATTEMPT AT FLYING. THE 2ND TAKEOFF RESULTED IN A PWR LOSS AND THE 2ND FORCED LNDG ENDED IN AN ACCIDENT. THE PLT REPORTED AFTER THE ACCIDENT THAT MISSING ENG PROBLEMS HAD OCCURED ON OTHER OCCASIONS PRIOR TO THE MALFUNCTIONS ON THIS DAY. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENG BY FIRE FOLLOWING THE CRASH PRECLUDED A COMPLETE ENG EXAM TO FIRMLY ESTABLISH A REASON FOR THE ENG MALFUNCTIONS. THE PLT REPORTED THAT HE'DUMPED' THE ACFT DURING LNDG INTO A FENCE TO AVOID HITTING PEOPLE ON AN ADJACENT GOLF COURSE. HE ALSO SAID HE SHOULD HAVE DUMPED THE'AG'LOAD & STOPPED TO THINK BEFORE A TAKEOFF OF THIS NATURE. THE ENG HAD ONLY OPERATED 20 FLT HRS SINCE INSPECTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL85FLT04
- Event ID
- 20001214X35822
- Case number
- ATL85FLT04
- 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: 400fa1a3f51cfd6f8e7033d81fca241e057d22cd60e48bbf148599297bb238c8; retrieved 2026-09-23T18:31:35.167Z.