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Atlas / NTSB / DEN89LA193

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN89LA193

1989-08-11 BULLFROG, Utah, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N84164

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

AERONCA 7AC

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19590130

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AB86D7

Registrant of record

WOMACK ABNER

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A SUBMERGED OBJECT IN THE LANDING AREA.

Factual narrative

THE ATP PLT WAS PRACTICING 'SPLASH AND GO LANDINGS' ON LAKE POWELL WITH TWO PSGRS. HE LANDED TO THE WEST IN WINDS HE ESTIMATED WERE LESS THAN 5 KTS. HE SAID THAT DURING THE LANDING RUN, THE ACFT STRUCK AN UNSEEN SUBMERGED OBJECT, POSSIBLY A LOG FLOATING BENEATH THE SURFACE; THE ACFT SANK IN 130 FT OF WATER. THE OBJECT PENETRATED THE HULL BETWEEN THE RUDDER PEDALS AND BROKE BOTH OF THE PLT'S LEGS. HE SAID THE IMPACT SEPARATED THE CABIN FROM THE EMPENNAGE. THE FRONT SEAT PSGR WAS EJECTED THRU THE WINDSHIELD ALONG WITH THE SEAT, SEAT BELT & SHOULDER HARNESS ATTACHED. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE ACFT NOSED OVER AND CAME TO REST INVERTED IN THE WATER. ALL 3 OCCUPANTS WERE RESCUED BY A PASSING SKI BOAT. THE PLT WAS AIR LIFTED TO PAGE, ARIZONA, FOR EMERGENCY TREATMENT. A POST-SALVAGE INVESTIGATION VERIFIED HULL PENETRATION IN THE AREA OF THE PLT'S FEET. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN89LA193.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 (icing). 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 ↗