San Diego, CA, USA
N9756U
Grumman American AA-1C
The airplane stalled during the turn onto the crosswind leg, and it impacted the ground and a fence. The pilot reported that no mechanical malfunction was experienced during the flight. Regarding the sequence of events leading to the accident, the pilot reported that he had received permission from the local air traffic controller to perform an early turn onto the crosswind leg following takeoff. According to the pilot, during the climb the passenger spoke, and he diverted his attention toward the passenger. Upon looking forward, the pilot noticed that the airplane was stalling. The airplane impacted the ground before he was able to regain control.
On April 23, 2006, at 1632 Pacific daylight time, a Grumman American AA-1C, N9756U, descended to impact with the ground and a fence during the takeoff initial climb from the Brown Field Municipal Airport, San Diego, California. The airplane came to rest on airport property and was destroyed. The private pilot and one passenger received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the personal flight. The flight was performed under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, and it originated from the airport about 1631. On May 2, 2006, the pilot verbally reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that no mechanical malfunction was experienced during the flight. Regarding the sequence of events leading to the accident, the pilot reported that he had received permission from the local air traffic controller to perform an early turn onto the crosswind leg following takeoff. During the turn, he experienced a departure stall. In the pilot's "Aircraft Accident Report," he described the events that transpired following the crosswind turn as follows: "As I leveled off at approximately 300 feet above ground level, my passenger said something and I glanced over at him as I realized that I was getting slow. I looked forward, and my right wing had dropped. I realized that I had stalled. I remember thinking that I needed to be wings level before I recovered from the stall, so I added left aileron and the wing started to drop more. I added full left aileron and it snapped into a left bank. I tried to arrest the roll and it snapped back to the right, but not quite as far. I tried again, and it snapped to the left again. I realized that this was not going to work. I needed to do something else. I pushed forward on the yoke, started to pick up speed, and regained some roll control. I rolled as level as I could but realized that we had lost too much altitude. I tried to keep from hitting the ground too hard."
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in a stall during initial climb. A contributing factor was his diverted attention.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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