Accident American Aviation AA-1A Trainer N9453L, Sunday 5 July 1998
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Date:Sunday 5 July 1998
Time:12:24 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic AA1 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
American Aviation AA-1A Trainer
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N9453L
MSN: AA1A-0253
Total airframe hrs:1897 hours
Engine model:Lycoming O-235-C2C
Fatalities:Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:Larkspur, CO -   United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Boulder, CO (1C5)
Destination airport:Pueblo, CO (KPUB)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
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.'

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

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: FTW98FA299
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 2 years and 7 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB FTW98FA299

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
24-Oct-2008 10:30 ASN archive Added
21-Dec-2016 19:22 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency, ]
06-Apr-2024 19:48 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report, ]

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