WPR26LA037

On October 29, 2025, about 1820 Pacific daylight time, a Grumman American AA-5B, N74323, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Santa Ynez, California. The commercial pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was to maneuver the airplane within and above the traffic pattern of the airport. The pilot departed from runway 26 and began following the noise-abatement climb-out procedures. During the initial climb, the engine began to operate abnormally and, after about three seconds, experienced a total loss of power. The pilot further stated that he maneuvered the airplane in a shallow turn back toward the airport. He determined that the airplane would be unable to maintain sufficient altitude to return to the runway and began searching for an area to conduct an off-airport landing. He elected to touch down in a vineyard just outside the airport perimeter and secured the cockpit by retarding the mixture to full OFF. During the accident sequence, the airplane collided with grapevines and fence posts, which resulted in substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector who performed an initial examination of the airplane, the fuel tanks were ruptured as a result of the impact. The inspector was able to drain liquid from the inboard fuel tanks, and the recovered sample was clean of debris and similar in odor to fuel. An external examination of the engine revealed no evidence of holes or catastrophic damage. The wreckage was retained for further examination.