Grumman American AA-1A N9453L

Summary

On 5 July 1998 at about 17:24 local time, a Grumman American AA-1A registered N9453L was involved in an accident near Larkspur, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 July 1998 at 17:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Larkspur, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.1806, -104.8899

Aircraft

Grumman American AA-1A

Registration

N9453L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Boulder → Pueblo

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW98FA299

1 person died.

The pilot inadvertently stalling the airplane and entering an unrecoverable spin. A factor was clear air turbulence.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 265-hour private pilot filed a VFR flight plan from Boulder, Colorado, to Pueblo, Colorado, and requested VFR flight following services. Thirty minutes later, the pilot reported he was encountering 'moderate turbulence,' then 'quite a bit of turbulence,' that he was turning around, and requested flight following services back to Boulder. Shortly thereafter, the pilot advised he was in a spin and unable to correct and that he was turning off his transponder. The airplane struck the ground in a near-vertical attitude. There was no evidence of a spin. His logbook indicated he had never been demonstrated a spin or had been given spin instruction. The Pilot's Operating Handbook prohibits spins and states: 'There is evidence that permitting a spin to go beyond one turn without initiating proper recovery procedures can allow a spin mode to develop from which recovery is not possible.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.