ATL84FU001 · CGS HAWK
CGS HAWK · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL84FU001
- 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
CGS HAWK
- Aircraft type
- CGS HAWK
- Category
- Ultralight
- 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
- UNREG
- 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 103: Ultralight
- 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
- Approach
- 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 in flight
- 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
- Flight control, elevator › Movement restricted
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT & HIS PARTNER HAD COMPLETED BUILDING THE ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE SEVERAL DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. SINCE THEN, THE PLT HAD FLOWN IT APRX 8 HRS. A WITNESS OBSERVED THE VEHICLE CIRCLE THE ARPT IN WHAT HE INDICATED WAS A NORMAL LEFT TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR RWY 28. HOWEVER, INSTEAD OF TURNING TO A FINAL APCH, THE VEHICLE CONTINUED PAST THE RWY CENTERLINE, BUT KEPT TURNING TO PARALLEL THE RWY. AT ABOUT MIDFIELD, THE ULTRALIGHT CROSSED OVER THE RWY, THEN REVERSE TO A RIGHT TURN. DURING THIS TIME, THE VEHICLE STEADILY DESCENDED FROM AN ALT OF APRX 600 FT AGL (TRAFFIC ENTRY) TO APRX 400 FT ON BASE, THEN TO 100 FT WHEN IT REVERSED TO A RIGHT TURN. IT CONTINUED TURNING RIGHT (APRX 270 DEG), THEN IT ENTERED A STEEP NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE & CRASHED. AN EXAM OF THE FLT CONTROLS REVEALED THAT WHEN LEFT RUDDER WAS APPLIED, THE ELEVATORBELLCRANK WOULD JAM AGAINST THE RUDDER HORN & ONLY ABOUT NEUTRAL NOSE-UP ELEVATOR WAS AVAILABLE. AN EXPERIENCED BUILDER REPORTED THIS PROBLEM HAD OCCURRED BEFORE. THE KIT DID NOT PROVIDE A MIN CLEARANCE OR CAUTION CONCERNING THIS PROBLEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL84FU001
- Event ID
- 20001214X44732
- Case number
- ATL84FU001
- 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: 541f9df48defec1eaeb5a6d017d870c1755a8e31de6e17020aadc5ba2754fa55; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:46:27.112Z.