Aeronca 11AC N3420E

Summary

On 31 March 2024 at about 17:00 local time, a Aeronca 11AC registered N3420E was involved in an accident near Conyers, Georgia, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 March 2024 at 17:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Conyers, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Whispering Pines (GA80)

Coordinates

33.7823, -83.9888

Aircraft

Aeronca 11AC

Registration

N3420E

Category

Airplane

Year built

1947

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Conyers → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA183

1 person had minor injuries.

An encounter with shifting wind conditions, which resulted in the airplane using more runway than anticipated, an aborted takeoff, and subsequent runway excursion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure account for the potential of variable and shifting wind in his departure planning.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was taking off from a 2,700-ft-long runway and described that during the initial climb, the airplane’s climb rate was insufficient to avoid the trees at the departure end of the runway. The pilot attempted to land on the remaining runway; however, the airplane departed the far end of the runway, impacted a berm, and came to rest in a lake. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot reported that the engine was operating normally and that there were no anomalies or mechanical failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Three of the closest official weather stations reported the wind was varying between being a quartering headwind to a quartering tailwind. The pilot reported receiving the weather conditions from an online, publicly available weather station, which reported that a headwind would be present for takeoff. He also provided a plot of the data from that station for the time surrounding accident, and it showed that while the wind direction was reported as he described, it had also begun to vary around that time, and continued to for some time afterward. Based on this information, it is likely that the variable wind conditions resulted in a shift in wind direction during takeoff that changed from a quartering headwind to a quartering tailwind.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.