- Date
- September 15, 2011, 14:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Cleveland, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9982UGrumman American Avn. AA-5A
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 27, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20110915021269A
- Case key
- 81815
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
The pilot's poor decision to land with a tailwind, which resulted in a runway excursion.
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 was landing on a turf runway with a tailwind gusting to 15 knots. During the landing, the pilot could not slow the airplane before it departed the end of the runway and impacted a fence, resulting in substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
Factual narrative
The pilot approached the 2,500-foot-long turf runway with a tailwind gusting to 15 knots. During the landing, the pilot could not slow the airplane before it departed the end of the runway and impacted a fence, resulting in substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9982U
- Reported as
- Grumman American Avn. AA-5A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA5A0382
- Airframe hours
- 2,380
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 2010
- Departed
- 18A · Canon, GA
- Destination
- 0GE5 · Cleveland, GA
- Airport
- 0GE5 · Mountain Airpark, runway 17, 2,500 × 200 ft, grass/turf
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
- 71
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 19, 2010
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 520 total · 120 in this make and model · 365 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 9 knots, gusting 14
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Observed at
- WDR, 35 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 9, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.