Astro Wings Airlines Aero Commander 680W accident
Aero Commander 680W · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL83FA039
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Aero Commander 680W
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 680
- 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
- N5058E
- Operator
- Astro Wings Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charlotte, NCTo Atlanta, GA
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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 · 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Loss, partial
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Fuel system, cap › Separation
- Fuel system, cap › Worn
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Atlanta, GA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT REPORTED THAT ON THE PREVIOUS FLT, THE CENTER FUEL TANK GAUGE WAS MALFUNCTIONING AND INDICATED 800 LBS EVEN WHEN IT WAS FULL WITH 1400 LBS. AFTER LNDG AT CHARLOTTE,NC, IT WAS STILL INDICATING 800 LBS. BFR TKOF, THE CENTER TANK WAS REFILLED. WHILE EN ROUTE ABOUT 40 MI WEST OF ATLANTA, GA, THE PLT NOTED THAT THE FUEL GAUGE INDICATED 500 LBS & WAS DROPPING RAPIDLY. A FEW MINUTES LATER, BOTH ENGS FLAMED OUT. VECTORS WERE OBTAINED TO FLY TO THE NEAREST ARPT. DRG THE DESCENT, THE ENGINES WERE RESTARTED. THE PLT INTERCEPTED THE ILS & REMAINED HIGH ON THE GLIDE SLOPE. THE WEATHER AT THE ARPT WAS REPORTED AS 100 FT OVC, VIS 1/4 MI WITH FOG & RAIN. THE ACFT BROKE OUT OF THE CLDS APRX 2/3 OF THE WAY DOWN THE RWY, THEN CONTINUED OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY & WENT THRU ILS ANTENNA ARRAY. AN EXAM REVEALED THE CENTER FUEL CAP WAS MISSING, IT WAS FOUND IN THE GRASS NEAR THE PARKING RAMP AT CHARLOTTE. THE FUEL CAP WAS FOUND TO BE WORN & WOULD NOT LOCK SECURELY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL83FA039
- Event ID
- 20020917X04302
- Case number
- ATL83FA039
- 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 1982-11-21.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 21094a0a19298efee032799273f0584c513012d57c6a25a70d56b39a619d42df; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:04:47.192Z.