Grumman G-21A N327

Summary

On 15 February 2005 at about 14:42 local time, a Grumman G-21A registered N327 was involved in an accident near Penn Yan, New York, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 February 2005 at 14:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Penn Yan, New York, United States

Nearest airport

Penn Yan Airport (PEO)

Coordinates

42.6253, -77.0394

Aircraft

Grumman G-21A

Registration

N327

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Penn Yan → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD05LA038

2 people had minor injuries.

The flight instructor's inadequate planning/decision and his remedial action to conduct or recover from a simulated emergency procedure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The purpose of the flight was for the flight instructor to provide multiengine airplane training, in a late 1930's vintage amphibious airplane, to his brother, a single engine airplane rated private pilot. No published performance data was available for the airplane, and according to the flight instructor, much of what he knew about the performance of the airplane he learned from previous flights. Just after takeoff on the accident flight, and about 600 feet above ground level (agl), and as the pilot was retracting the landing gear and starting a left turn to the crosswind leg of the traffic pattern, the flight instructor retarded the right throttle in order to simulate a failure of the right engine. The pilot executed the procedures for an in-flight engine failure and the instructor looked out of the window to check for traffic in the airport traffic pattern. The flight instructor then heard the pilot state "I am at blue line but losing altitude." The flight instructor continued to scan for traffic and moved the right throttle forward to about the "half throttle" position. The pilot could not recall if he had adjusted either of the power controls after the initial application of power for takeoff. The airplane continued to descend, impacted the ground, and caught fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.