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Atlas / NTSB / CEN13LA504

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN13LA504

2013-08-22 Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, United States Airport · ARG None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to properly set the engine power for takeoff, which resulted in the airplane subsequently settling into terrain.

Factual narrative

On August 22, 2013, at 0845 central daylight time, a Gulfstream AM G-164B airplane, N8402K, impacted terrain during takeoff near Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and both wings. The airplane was registered to and operated illegally by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 as an aerial application flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight and a flight plan was not filed. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident. The pilot stated that during the takeoff, he did not have the engine power set properly for takeoff. While in ground effect, the airplane began to stall and settled into the terrain. The airplane came to rest upright. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the pilot did not possess a Part 137 operating certificate. Numerous requests to obtain a completed Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1) were unsuccessful. The pilot did not have the engine power set properly when he took off for an aerial application flight. While in ground effect, the airplane began to stall and settled into the terrain. The airplane came to rest upright. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot did not possess a Part 137 operating certificate. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Powerplant parameters-Incorrect use/operation - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2013_CEN13LA504.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗