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GAA18CA004

2017-10-07 · Topping, Virginia, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport W75

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during takeoff, which resulted in a departure stall.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, he began the takeoff roll from a runway intersection and pitched the nose of the airplane up for maximum climb to avoid trees, however, "I over-rotated and entered a power-on stall." He attempted to correct by lowering the nose, but the airplane rolled to the left and entered the trees before impacting a house. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to the pilot, he began the takeoff roll from a runway intersection and pitched the airplane's nose up for maximum climb to avoid trees; however, he stated, "I over-rotated and entered a power-on stall." He attempted to correct by lowering the nose, but the airplane rolled to the left and entered the trees before impacting a house. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Contributed to outcome
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Residence/building-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA18CA004.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

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