- Date
- April 3, 1989, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Manchester, NH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N2520ZChampion 8KCAB
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 22, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890403010499A
- Case key
- 36392
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 loss of control and collision with a parked aircraft due to the inadvertent application of the throttle that took place as the pilot was fastening the over the shoulder safety harness while warming the engine in preparation for departure.
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 pilot of the decathlon stated that she had warmed up the engine and was attaching the over-the-shoulder strap from the rear attaching point. As she pulled the strap to fasten it, using an underhand motion, the aircraft 'lurched forward at full throttle'. The tail wheel was cocked off to the right, so the aircraft went to the right at full throttle and caught the rear of a Piper PA-32R'S left wing. The pilot said that the shoulder strap had caught on the rear power quadrant and advanced it to full throttle when she pulled on it to fasten it. The day following the accident a state aeronautics commission representative attempted to duplicate the accident as described by the pilot and was unable to do so.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2520Z
- Reported as
- Champion 8KCAB
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 336-77
- Airframe hours
- 1,571
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-C2E, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Carol Grant
- Registered owner
- Kenneth R Grant
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 18, 1988
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- Manchester
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
- 44
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,301 total · 449 in this make and model · 1,113 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N2520Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.