- Date
- May 23, 2023, 17:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Worth, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1972GAmerican AA-5
- Defining event
- Enroute: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 192254
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
An inflight collision with a bird.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that while enroute to his destination, a large bird impacted the airplane’s left wing, which resulted in substantial damage to the wing structure. The pilot declared an emergency and landed the airplane uneventfully at the closest airport.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1972G
- Reported as
- American AA-5
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA5-0157
- Built
- 1972
- Airframe hours
- 6,341
- Engine
- Lycoming O320-E2G, 160 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Eugene L. Capone, doing business as Cross Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 21, 2022 · 66.6 hours before
- Departed
- 50F · Cleburne, TX
- Destination
- KFWS · Fort Worth, TX
- Equipment
- Data recorder, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Satellite tracking device, Onboard weather, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 17, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 127 total · 68 in this make and model · 89 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KFWS, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KFWS 232150Z 09009KT 10SM SCT050 30/18 A2994
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 31, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.4 MB in all.