Skip to content

GAA17CA108

2016-12-31 · Casa Grande, Arizona, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CGZ

Current FAA registration · N5897R

Make / Model
VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV7A
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A79AB4

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadvertent application of the autopilot during short final, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and hard landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during his second flight, following the installation of a new autopilot, he noticed on short final that the mixture was set too lean. He further reported that "with a gloved hand" he pushed the mixture in to a richer setting; and accidently turned on the autopilot, which was located directly above the mixture control. The autopilot was set to navigation mode, heading mode, and altitude mode from a previous flight. The pilot reported that he was "fighting the auto pilot" and the airplane aerodynamically stalled, resulting in a hard landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, during his second flight, following the installation of a new autopilot, he noticed on short final that the mixture was set too lean. He added that, "with a gloved hand," he pushed the mixture in to a richer setting and accidently turned on the autopilot, which was located directly above the mixture control. The autopilot was set to navigation mode, heading mode, and altitude mode from a previous flight. The pilot reported that he was "fighting the auto pilot" and that the airplane aerodynamically stalled, which resulted in a hard landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Capability exceeded - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Auto flight system-Autopilot system-Unintentional use/operation - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA17CA108.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, autopilot). All research papers