- Date
- March 16, 1983, 23:30 local (Mar 17, 1983, 04:30 UTC)
- Place
- Waverly, GA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N8855VBellanca 17-31A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830316011179A
- Case key
- 5910
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft crashed into trees during an instrument approach at night in stormy weather. Both the CFI, seated in the front left seat, & the new owner of the acft, were fatally injured. An IFR flt plan was filed & the CFI had obtained 2 wx briefings prior to departure. The acft had just received an annual inspection as a part of the sales contract. At 2313 brunswick fss advised jacksonville center that N8855V was cleared for approach & was inbound. Jacksonville gave fss the missed approach procedures. At 2321 fss advised jacksonville that communications had been lost. Investigation revealed that although the acft had received an annual inspection on 03-15-83, a discrepancy list, dated 03-16-83, found in the acft showed the #2 VOR was unreliable; the directional gyro precessed; the compass needed to be calibrated; the fuel gauges were unreliable; & the alternator output was suspect in high load situations. The altimeter, pitot static system & transponder had not been recertified since 1978. Also, no record of VOR accuracy checks were found during the invest.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8855V
- Reported as
- Bellanca 17-31A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-49
- Airframe hours
- 1,675
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1E5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Harold A. Albritton
- Registered owner
- Watch Security Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 15, 1983 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- PDK · Chamblee, GA
- Destination
- SSI · Saint Simons Id, GA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SSI · Malcolm Mc Kinnon, runway 4, 5,466 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 53
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,101 total · 4,799 as pilot in command · 89 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 40° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 600 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SSI, 19 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.