ATL83FA337 · Cessna 414A
Cessna 414A · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Shiflet Field (9A9) to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL83FA337
- 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
- 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
Cessna 414A
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 414
- 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
- N5ER
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Shiflet Field (9A9)To Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), Raleigh, NC
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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 handling, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
- Pilot in command › Visual/aural detection
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Marion, NC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE TAKEOFF RUN, AT 85 KTS, THE ACFT HIT A BUMP & THE PLT STATED HIS FORWARD VISION WAS OBSTRUCTED BY WATER ON THE WINDSHIELD. HE INSTINCTIVELY PULLED BACK ON THE CONTROLS & BECOME AIRBORNE. HE LOST SIGHT OF THE RIGHT SIDE SET OF RWY LIGHTS & WAS REPORTEDLY FLYING 'BLIND.' THE ACFT DRIFTED LEFT INTO TREES & CAME TO REST IN SHALLOW WATER IN A BACKWATER AREA 150 FT NORTH OF THE DEPARTURE END OF RWY 10. MANY OF THE RWY LIGHTS WERE EITHER NOT OPERATING OR WERE OBSTRUCTED. NO LIGHTS IN THE LAST 1000 FT OF THE RWY WERE BOTH OPERATING & UNOBSTRUCTED. THE NOAA ARPT/FACILITY DIRECTOR CONTAINS A REMARK FOR THE ARPT 'RUNWAY SUBJECT TO FLOODING AFTER VERY HEAVY RAINS.' THIS REMARK DOES NOT APPEARIN THE JEPPESEN 'AIRPORT DIRECTORY' THAT THE PLT WAS USING. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THE PLT STATED HE WALKED THROUGH THE EASTERN END OF THE RWY & FOUND HIMSELF 'UP TO HIS ANKLES' IN ABOUT 3 INCHES OF WATER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL83FA337
- Event ID
- 20001214X43983
- Case number
- ATL83FA337
- 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 1983-08-23.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 483b291e1c2993ec145f8156aada4b640c4e52cdac552e1cbbfcdc0b895f5968; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:55:02.247Z.