- Date
- April 6, 1989, 18:00 local (Apr 7, 1989, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Enumclaw, WA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N9473LAmerican AA-1A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890406012189A
- Case key
- 40940
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
Attempted flight into known adverse weather conditions. Factors include clouds, downdrafts, high winds.
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
During a personal cross country flight, the airplane collided with trees in mountainous terrain. A weather briefing obtained earlier that day by the pilot included in-flight precautions along his route of flight. Strong up and downdrafts in the mountains along with possible rime and mixed icing conditions were mentioned. Strong winds were present in the afternoon at the altitudes the pilot had reported to be using. The pilot did not obtain an updated briefing for the afternoon conditions.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9473L
- Reported as
- American AA-1A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA1A0273
- Airframe hours
- 1,265
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C2C, 108 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- The Aviators
- Registered owner
- Ervin J. Barth
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 5, 1989 · 25 hours before
- Departed
- MWH · Moses Lake, WA
- Destination
- BFI · Seattle, WA
- Flight plan
- VFR
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 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 150 total · 25 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft overcast
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.