GP Express Airlines Flight 861
Beech C99 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
From Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Anniston Regional Airport (ANB)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL92MA118
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 6
- Survivors
- 3
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 3
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech C99
- Flight
- GPE861
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 99
- 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
- N118GP
- Operator
- GP Express Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GATo Anniston Regional Airport (ANB)
- 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
- Approach · IFR final approach
- 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
- Company/operator management › Inadequate training
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
GP Express Airlines Flight 861, from Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia to Anniston Metropolitan Airport in Anniston, Alabama, crashed while attempting to land at approximately 8:04 a.m. CDT on June 8, 1992. The Beechcraft Model 99 had four passengers and a crew of two on board. Two passengers and the captain received fatal injuries. All three survivors were seriously injured.
Accident
GP Express Airlines Flight 861 was to operate from Atlanta to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with an intermediate stop in Anniston. The flight was operated as a Department of Transportation Essential Air Service (EAS) flight. The crew consisted of captain Vernon Schuety (29) and first officer James Meadows (24). In Atlanta, four passengers and six bags were loaded on the fifteen-passenger aircraft for the flight. During the flight, intercom problems created difficulty in communication between the crew. Additionally, the crew encountered problems with a battery and autofeather system. As the flight approached Anniston, confusion developed in the cockpit regarding the aircraft's position and correct course to Anniston. While a visual approach was considered, visual conditions necessitated an instrument landing system approach to Runway 5 at Anniston. The crew experienced difficulty establishing the glideslope to Runway 5 and discussed minimum decision heights and missed approach procedures immediately before the aircraft impacted a heavily wooded ridge approximately 7.5 miles north of the Anniston airport in conditions of fog and low-lying clouds. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and post-accident fire.
Following the crash on Stanley Hill approximately 150 yards inside the southeast boundary of Fort McClellan, the survivors exited the airplane as a fire developed. Survivor Sgt. Dennis Lachut of Fort Lewis, Washington, limped three miles from the crash site through steep, wooded terrain and was taken to a nearby residence by the driver of a passing pickup truck. The Anniston airport manager was notified by GP Express that the plane did not arrive and could not be reached approximately 11 minutes after the scheduled arrival time; however, this information was not shared with local search and rescue authorities. A search was not started until Sgt. Lachut directed rescuers toward the crash site around noon. Rescuers arrived on foot about 2:15 p.m. and evacuated the remaining survivors by four-wheel-drive vehicle to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston. Heavy rains at the time made travel difficult, obscured visibility, and also quickly knocked down the post-accident fire, the smoke of which might have alerted authorities to the crash and approximate location more quickly.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The findings of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were released on March 2, 1993. Ultimately the investigation determined that the crew lost situational awareness, and though unsure of the air traffic control services being provided or their position, began an approach to Runway 5 from an excessive altitude and airspeed without completing the published approach procedures. Though critical of the performance of the flight crew, the report ultimately concluded that the probable cause was the failure of senior management of GP Express to provide adequate training and operational support for the startup of the southern operation, which resulted in the assignment of an inadequately prepared captain with a relatively inexperienced first officer in revenue passenger service and the failure of the flight crew to use approved instrument flight procedures, which resulted in a loss of situational awareness and terrain clearance. Contributing to the cause of the accident was GP Express' failure to provide approach charts to each pilot and to establish stabilized approach criteria. Also contributing were the inadequate crew coordination and a role reversal on the part of the captain and first officer.
Text from the Wikipedia article “GP Express Airlines Flight 861” (revision 1339298629, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
THIS WAS THE FIRST DAY ON DUTY IN THE SOUTHERN REGION OPERATION FOR BOTH PILOTS. IN ADDITION, THEY HAD NEVER FLOWN TOGETHER. DURING THE FLIGHT, THE FLIGHTCREW LOST AWARENESS OF THEIR AIRPLANE'S POSITION, ERRONEOUSLY BELIEVED THAT THE FLIGHT WAS RECEIVING RADAR SERVICES FROM ATC, AND COMMENCED THE APPROACH FROM AN EXCESSIVE ALTITUDE AND AT A CRUISE AIRSPEED WITHOUT ACCOMPLISHING THE PUBLISHED PROCEDURE SPECIFIED ON THE APPROCH CHART. THE CREW BELIEVED THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT, AND TURNED TOWARD THE NORTH TO EXECUTE THE ILS RWY 5 APPROACH. IN ACTUALITY, THE AIRPLANE HAD INTERCEPTED THE BACK COURSE LOCALIZER SIGNAL, AND THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED A CONTROLLED DESCENT UNTIL IT IMPACTED TERRAIN.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF GP EXPRESS TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE TRAINING AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE STARTUP OF THE SOUTHERN OPERATION, WHICH RESULTED IN THE ASSIGNMENT OF AN INADEQUATELY PREPARED CAPTAIN WITH A RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICER IN REVENUE PASSENGER SERVICE, AND THE FAILURE OF THE FLIGHTCREW TO USE APPROVED INSTRUMENT FLIGHT PROCEDURES, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND TERRAIN CLEARANCE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT WAS GP EXPRESS' FAILURE TO PROVIDE APPROACH CHARTS TO EACH PILOT AND TO ESTABLISH STABILIZED APPROACH CRITERIA. ALSO CONTRIBUTING WERE THE INADEQUATE CREW COORDINATION AND A ROLE REVERSAL ON THE PART OF THE CAPTAIN AND FIRST OFFICER. (NTSB REPORT AAR-93/03)
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: GP Express Airlines Flight 861
- Revision
- 1339298629 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q5514367
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record ATL92MA118
- Event ID
- 20001211X14784
- Case number
- ATL92MA118
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "GP Express Airlines Flight 861" (page 25958451, revision 1339298629); merged with NTSB case ATL92MA118 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record ATL92MA118
- Map position
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: events decimal coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record ATL92MA118: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "GP Express Airlines Flight 861" and NTSB case ATL92MA118, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- 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.