ATL82FA066 · Piper PA-32-260
Causey Aviation Services Piper PA-32-260 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather
From Kissimmee, FL to Liberty, NC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL82FA066
- 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
- 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
Piper PA-32-260
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N38540
- Operator
- Causey Aviation Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Kissimmee, FLTo Liberty, 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 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
- Unknown
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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
- Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
- 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
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
- Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, continued
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
BEFORE TAKEOFF, THE PILOT TELEPHONED HIS BROTHER IN NORTH CAROLINA AND ASKED ABOUT THE WEATHER. HE WAS TOLD THAT THERE WAS AN OVERCAST. THE PILOT REPLIED THAT HE WOULD "COME ON AND SKIRT THE MOUNTAINS." NO FLIGHT PLAN WAS FILED AND THERE WAS NO FAA RECORD OF A WEATHER BRIEFING. THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED ABOUT 130 MILES WEST OF A STRAIGHT LINE BETWEEN THE DEPARTURE POINT AND THE DESTINATION. TWO KNOWN WITNESSES HEARD THE AIRCRAFT BEFORE IT CRASHED. ONE DESCRIBED THE ENGINE SOUND AS INCREASING IN PITCH AND THEN DYING. HE DESCRIBED THE SOUND AS SIMILAR TO A MODEL AIRCRAFT FLYING IN A CIRCLE. THE OTHER WITNESS REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE STOPPED AND STARTED THREE TIMES. HE ALSO ESTIMATED THE CEILING AS VERY LOW AND THE VISIBILITY AS VERY POOR. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CRASH SITE REVEALED THAT THE RIGHT WING TIP HAD SEPARATED AND HAD COME TO REST AT A DISTANCE FROM THE MAIN WRECKAGE. THE LOWER WING SKIN FAILED IN TENSION AND THE TOP SKIN WAS TORN AND DEFORMED UPWARD. THE PROPELLER HAD SEPARATED AND WAS CURLED & BENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL82FA066
- Event ID
- 20020917X01731
- Case number
- ATL82FA066
- 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: 8b15592d364cb47dd4e8c3ab14f03a2361cfb35fca830869b504d9910c3d6850; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:36:12.230Z.