DCA83AA022 · Mitsubishi MU-2B-60
Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 · Accident: uncontrolled altitude deviation en route
From Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA83AA022
- 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
- 4 · 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
- Unknown
Mitsubishi MU-2B-60
- Aircraft type
- Mitsubishi MU-2
- 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
- N72B
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jacksonville International Airport (JAX), Jacksonville, FLTo Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GA
- 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
- 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
- Uncontrolled altitude deviation
- 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 › Design stress limits of aircraft, exceeded
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS ON THE RETURN PORTION OF A ROUND TRIP FLT, HAULING CANCELED BANK CHECKS. WHEN THEY BOARDED BEFORE TAKEOFF, THE PLT'S WIFE, WHO WAS NOT A PLT, OCCUPIED THE R FRONT SEAT & HIS 2 DAUGHTER'S, AGES 4 & 6, WERE IN THE PASSENGER SEATS. PREVIOUS LEGS OF THE FLT WERE ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT INCIDENT. WHILE EN ROUTE ON THE 4TH LEG, A RADAR HANDOFF WAS MADE FROM JACKSONVILLE TO ATLANTA CENTER AT 0225 EST & THE PLT REPORTED AT FL180. THIS WAS HIS LAST KNOWN TRANSMISSION. AT 0230, THE ATC CONTROLLER NOTED THE ACFT WAS PASSING MACON VOR. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST & EFFORTS TO MAKE RADIO CONTACT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL. SEVERAL PERSONS IN THE VICINITY HEARD THE ACFT ENGS ALTERNATELY AT HI SPEED, THEN DEMISHING, BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND SCATTERED OVER A 2 MI AREA. AN EXAM REVEALED THE R WING HAD FAILED UPWARD & THE L WING & L HORIZONTAL STABILIZER HAD FAILED DOWNWARD FROM OVERLOAD. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF COURSE REVERSAL & DESCENT BEFORE BREAKUP; LIGHT TURBULENCE & ICING AT CRUISE ALT. REASON FOR DSCNT UNKN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA83AA022
- Event ID
- 20001214X42388
- Case number
- DCA83AA022
- 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: f2d76600954684c53a628f90eb4573567d6858699fdb4b65e00a081365516698; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:30:58.999Z.