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MIA84FA017 · Hight Smaragd CP-301-S

24 Oct 1983 · ST AUGUSTINE, FL, United States

Hight Smaragd CP-301-S · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering

From SGI · ST AUGUSTINE, FL to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
MIA84FA017
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
2 · 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

Hight Smaragd CP-301-S

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
N42RH
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From SGI · ST AUGUSTINE, FLTo 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 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
Maneuvering
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
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
Stall
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 › Airspeed, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE OWNER/BUILDER/PLT OF THE HOME BUILT ACFT & A PASSENGER (A FOREIGN VISITOR) WERE ON A LOCAL FLT ALONG A BEACH AREA. THE PURPOSE OF THE FLT WAS FOR THE VISITOR TO TAKE SOME VIDEO TAPE FOOTAGE WITH THE VIDEO CAMERA THAT HE TOOK ALONG. WITNESSES, INCLUDING A FRIEND OF THE VISITOR, SAW THE ACFT FLYING SLOW AT AN ALT OF APRX 100 FT AGL & 300 YARDS FROM THE BEACH. THEY REPORTED THAT THE ACFT WAS FLYING PARALLEL TO THE SHORE LINE WHEN IT PULLED UP IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE THE INITIATION OF A CLIMB. AT ABOUT THAT TIME, THE ACFT SUDDENLY FELL OFF ON THE RIGHT WING & ROLLED TO AN INVERTED, NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. REPORTEDLY, THE ACFT HAD ROLLED BACK TO A WINGS LEVEL ATTITUDE, AND WAS RECOVERING FROM A DIVE, WHEN IT IMPACTED IN THE WATER. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE WAS OPERATING AT A HIGH RPM (SCREAMING) WHEN THE ACFT CRASHED IN ABOUT A 45 DEG NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED NO PREIMPACT FAILURES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA84FA017
Event ID
20001214X44905
Case number
MIA84FA017
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: b074a7d06d3ed5b08a0a0d0a53c4c9f2b905de5649771eb0ba95dd6083668afa; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:59:06.828Z.