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Atlas / NTSB / GAA17CA299

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA17CA299

2017-05-21 Talkeetna, Alaska, United States Airport · TKA None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N484WT

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BACKCOUNTRY SUPER CUBS LLC SUPER CRUISER

Engine

AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20151217

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A5F97B

Registrant of record

HUDZINSKI THOMAS E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that, while participating in a slow flight competition, he was over the target area for the radar speed check about 30ft. above the ground, at 17 mph ground speed, when the left wing stalled. He added, that he did not have sufficient altitude to recover. Subsequently, the airplane impacted the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, while participating in a slow flight competition, he was over the target area for the radar speed check about 30 ft above the ground, at 17 mph ground speed, when the left wing stalled. He added that he did not have sufficient altitude to recover. Subsequently, the airplane impacted the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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-Angle of attack-Capability exceeded - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Task environment-Pressures/demands-(general)-Effect on personnel

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA17CA299.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 ↗