Grumman American AA-1A N9226L

Summary

On 2 January 2003 at about 19:46 local time, a Grumman American AA-1A registered N9226L was involved in an accident near Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 January 2003 at 19:46

Classification

Accident

Location

Shreveport, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Shreveport Downtown Airport (KDTN)

Coordinates

32.5931, -93.7656

Aircraft

Grumman American AA-1A

Registration

N9226L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Shreveport → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03FA071

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed resulting in a stall.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The personal flight originated as a flight of two airplanes. The father of the passenger flying in the trail position was flying the lead airplane on a local formation flight. The pilot of a Cessna 120 departed first and kept looking back to observe the position of the trailing aircraft. During the climb out, the pilot of the lead airplane observed an airplane below and behind him entering a spin to the right. The lead pilot failed to recognize the spinning airplane as his trailing aircraft. After being unable to contact the trail airplane, the pilot contacted the tower and reported that the airplane may have gone down. The wreckage of the airplane was found in an open meadow within 4 miles of the departure end of the runway. Signatures of the damage sustained by the airplane were consistent with a flat spin to the right. The non-instrument rated private pilot had accumulated a total of 125 hours of flight, with approximately 50 hours in the accident airplane. The local fire department was alerted as to the possibility of an aircraft accident at 1359; however the aircraft was not located from the air until 1427, approximately 41 minutes after the accident. The airplane ELT was found in the off position with an expired battery. Flight control continuity was established to all flight control surfaces. The engine was satisfactorily ran for over 12 minutes following the recovery of the airplane. No anomalies were found with the engine or airplane that would have prevented normal operation. No evidence of an in-flight fire was found either on the airframe on the pilot. There was no evidence of an in-flight fire was found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.