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ATL82FA164 · Cessna 172P

15 Jun 1982 · Asheville, NC, United States

Kilpatrick Aviation Cessna 172P · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water en route

From 047 · Hendersonville, NC to 047 · Hendersonville, NC

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Event

NTSB case
ATL82FA164
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

Cessna 172P

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
N6545K
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 047 · Hendersonville, NCTo 047 · Hendersonville, 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
En route · climb to 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
In flight collision with terrain/water
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(cfi) › Airspeed, improper
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Carburetor heat, improper use of
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Lowering of flaps, improper

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Asheville, NC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE FLT REPORTEDLY INVOLVED MOUNTAIN FLYING TECHNIQUES. THE STUDENT OBSERVED THAT THE ACFT WAS NOT CLIMBING NORMALLY & THE CFI SUGGESTED THEY SLOW TO 70K. THE STUDENT STARTED A TURN TOWARD A WIDE VALLEY BUT THE CFI URGED HIM TO CONTINUE TOWARD THE MTNS WHICH TOOK THE ACFT INTO A NARROWER VALLEY & RISING TERRAIN. AFTER THE STUDENT REPORTED THAT THE ACFT WAS NOT CLIMBING AT ALL THE CFI TOOK CONTROL. HE WAS UNABLE TO RE-ESTABLISH A CLIMB & REPORTED THAT A TURN-AROUND WAS NOLONGER A SAFE MANEUVER. HE SLOWED THE ACFT & MUSHED INTO THE TREES. THE CFI REPORTED HE ADDED CARB HEAT WHEN THEY WERE NO LONGER ABLE TO CLIMB, BUT AFTER NOTICING AN RPM DROP IN 15 SECS HE SWITCHED CARB HEAT TO COLD. HE SLOWED THE ACFT TO 57-58K & EXTENDED 10 DEG OF FLAPS. THE C-172P POH INDICATES THAT THE BEST ANGLE OF CLIMB SPEED(VX) VARIES FROM 60-65K FROM SL TO 10,000 FT. IT SUGGESTS FLAPS UP TO OBTAIN BEST ANGLE PERFORMANCE. THE ACFT CAME TO REST INVERTED WHICH LEFT THE OCCUPANTS INVERTED & THEY REPORTEDLY HAD DIFFICULTY IN RELEASING THEIR SEAT BELT BUCKLES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL82FA164
Event ID
20020917X02840
Case number
ATL82FA164
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: aa366cce1645feca13190df50a520d4f4fc7f9b180b24e316abbffd46a66d59e; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:13:51.657Z.