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ATL05FA145 · Cessna 310R

16 Aug 2005 · Apopka, FL, United States

Cessna 310R · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering

From Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM)

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Event

NTSB case
ATL05FA145
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
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
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 310R

Aircraft type
Cessna 310
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
N2631E
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, NCTo Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM), Kissimmee, FL
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
In flight collision with object
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
Tree(s)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Object › Tree(s)
  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

Local residents saw the airplane flying above the tree tops and believed that it was attempting a landing on the nearby golf course. As the flight continued, the airplane collided with power lines, the ground, and burst into flames near the 9th hole. Examination of the wreckage disclosed that the wing flaps were set at 10-degrees and the landing gear were retracted. Review of Air Traffic Transcripts revealed that the pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane during the flight. The post-accident examination of the airplane also failed to disclose a mechanical malfunction or component failure.

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate visual lookout and object clearance, which resulted in the in-flight collision with trees.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL05FA145
Event ID
20050831X01337
Case number
ATL05FA145
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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2005-08-17.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: eaaf438af1e872a937cce91c9227276717a9bb91de18bdb505741e6f81e98ea9; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:55:45.460Z.