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GAA18CA096

2017-12-27 · Upper Lake, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 1Q5

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

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

Factual narrative

The pilot of the airplane reported that, during the approach to land, he applied full flaps, but "unfortunately, [he] added power too late and too slowly". Subsequently, "the bottom fell out" and the airplane aerodynamically stalled. The airplane landed hard, the left and right wing impacted the ground, and the airplane skidded to a stop. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot of the airplane reported that, during the approach to land, he applied full flaps, but "unfortunately, [he] added power too late and too slowly." Subsequently, "the bottom fell out," and the airplane aerodynamically stalled. The airplane landed hard, the left and right wings impacted the ground, and the airplane skidded to a stop. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. 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

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA18CA096.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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