- Date
- January 8, 1983, 05:15 local (11:15 UTC)
- Place
- Elba, AL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1860KLuscombe 8E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830108000549A
- Case key
- 5970
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 plt had received a wx briefing aprx 4 hrs before departure. He stated that on arrival, the arpt beacon light was not on & patches of ground fog were in the area. During the arrival, he approached from the south, flew north over the arpt, circled to the southwest, then turned on a short final for rwy 01. He stated that during the turn to final, he noticed that the lights to a convenience store near the north end of the rwy were not on, and thought this was odd, since he was to meet someone there at 0500. At about the time he leveled his wings on final approach, the right wing of the acft struck a tall tree. Subsequently, the acft crashed in a wooded area & came to rest aprx 100 yds from the rwy.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1860K
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4587
- Airframe hours
- 1,532
- Engine
- Continental C-85, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Smith, Lloyd M.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 1982 · 65 hours before
- Departed
- 149 · Prattville, AL
- Destination
- 14J · Elba, AL
- Airport
- 14J · Carl Folsom, runway 1, 3,000 × 100 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
- 28
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,800 total · 165 in this make and model · 4,590 as pilot in command · 279 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Observed at
- MGM, 55 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.