ATL82FKM04 · Cessna 172G
Cessna 172G · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From Holly Ridge, NC to 4N6 · Garden City, NY
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL82FKM04
- 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 172G
- 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
- N5884R
- Operator
- Paul Blake
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Holly Ridge, NCTo 4N6 · Garden City, NY
- 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Miscellaneous › Undetermined
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Worthville, NC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING ARRIVAL, THE PILOT ENTERED A LEFT DOWNWIND FOR RUNWAY 11 AND PROCEEDED TO MAKE A LOW PASS OVER THE STRIP TO CHASE OFF COWS. AT APPROXIMATELY MIDFIELD, HE INITIATED A CLIMB AND ACCORDING TO THE PASSENGER, WHEN POWER WAS APPLIED, THE ENGINE DID NOT RESPOND PROPERLY. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT HE OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT BEGIN A CLIMBING RIGHT TURN, AND AT THAT TIME, THE ENGINE SOUNDED AS IF IT WERE SPUTTERING, THEN QUIT. THIS WITNESS SAID THE AIRCRAFT MADE A DESCENDING LEFT TURN AND HIT THE GROUND, HE BELIEVED THE PILOT WAS AVOIDING A WOODED AREA. ANOTHER WITNESS STATED THAT THE PLANE PITCHED DOWN ABRUPTLY.THE PILOT RECEIVED A HEAD INJURY AND DID NOT REMEMBER DETAILS OF THE ACCIDENT, BUT BELIEVED THE CARBURETOR HEAT WAS ON AND FULL FLAPS WERE EXTENDED. A CHECK REVEALED THE CARBURETOR HEAT WAS OFF AND THE FLAPS WERE RETRACTED. NO PRECRASH ENGINE FAILURES WERE FOUND. THE TEMPERATURE AND DEW POINT WERE 68 AND 61 DEGREES. THE LAST ANNUAL INSPECTION WAS ON 12/6/79. NO METAL-TO-METAL LATCHES ON SEAT BELTS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL82FKM04
- Event ID
- 20020917X02871
- Case number
- ATL82FKM04
- 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 1982-05-17.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 17dce23ee9a430824444fd3a8e0460c40b73168221e6647c4ecce818ed38a9f8; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:15:25.774Z.