Grumman American Avn AA-5B N74323

Summary

On 30 October 2025 at about 01:20 local time, a Grumman American Avn AA-5B registered N74323 was involved in an accident near Santa Ynez, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause has been published yet; this accident is still under investigation.

Date

30 October 2025 at 01:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Ynez, California, United States

Nearest airport

Santa Ynez/Kunkle Fld (IZA)

Coordinates

34.6055, -120.0806

Aircraft

Grumman American Avn AA-5B

Registration

N74323

Category

Airplane

Year built

1975

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

WPR26LA037

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. The investigation is still open; a final report usually follows one to two years after the accident.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On October 29, 2025, about 1820 Pacific daylight time, a Grumman American AA-5B, N74323, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Santa Ynez, California. The commercial pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was to maneuver the airplane within and above the traffic pattern of the airport. The pilot departed from runway 26 and began following the noise-abatement climb-out procedures. During the initial climb, the engine began to operate abnormally and, after about three seconds, experienced a total loss of power. The pilot further stated that he maneuvered the airplane in a shallow turn back toward the airport. He determined that the airplane would be unable to maintain sufficient altitude to return to the runway and began searching for an area to conduct an off-airport landing. He elected to touch down in a vineyard just outside the airport perimeter and secured the cockpit by retarding the mixture to full OFF. During the accident sequence, the airplane collided with grapevines and fence posts, which resulted in substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector who performed an initial examination of the airplane, the fuel tanks were ruptured as a result of the impact. The inspector was able to drain liquid from the inboard fuel tanks, and the recovered sample was clean of debris and similar in odor to fuel. An external examination of the engine revealed no evidence of holes or catastrophic damage. The wreckage was retained for further examination.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.