- Date
- September 4, 1989, 19:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- South Harpswell, ME
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4554LGrumman AA-5B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 10, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890904035229A
- Case key
- 36475
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
A delay by the pilot in aborting a late go-around. Factors related to the accident were: the pilot's improper flare for landing, his improper recovery from the subsequent bounced landing, and tree(s) near the runway.
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 plt rprtd that during a landing, the aircraft bounced a few times, then he added power to go around after traveling about 1/3 of the way down the rwy. He stated that after the acft had continued about 2/3 of the way down the rwy, he saw that it 'was not reacting to the go-around as needed.' Therefore, he 'cut (the) power, got (the) aircraft on the ground & steered to the overrun.' Subsequently, the acft was damaged when it hit a tree & crossed a roadway before stopping.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4554L
- Reported as
- Grumman AA-5B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA5B-1211
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4K, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Star Aviation
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- ME33
- Airport
- ME33 · Farr Field, runway 13, 2,000 × 150 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
- 20
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 203 total · 15 in this make and model · 170 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 18 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.