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GAA19CA271

2019-05-17 · Stuttgart, Arkansas, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SGT

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack while maneuvering during an agricultural application flight, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the agricultural application airplane reported that, while turning after finishing a fertilizer run, the "wind was under the wing pushing [him]." He tried to "pull the aircraft out of the turn", but the airplane aerodynamically stalled. He returned the stick to neutral, and while regaining control, the left main landing gear and wing tip struck the ground, which caused the landing gear to bend underneath the wing. The airplane bounced back into the air and the pilot decided to return to the departure airport. During landing on an abandoned runway, he attempted to keep the left main landing gear off the ground as long as possible, until the left wing impacted the ground and the airplane exited the runway to the left. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. 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 turning the airplane after finishing a fertilizer application, the "wind was under the wing pushing [the airplane]." He tried to "pull the aircraft out of the turn," but it aerodynamically stalled. He returned the stick to neutral, and while regaining control, the left main landing gear (MLG) and wingtip struck the ground, which caused the landing gear to bend underneath the wing. The airplane bounced, and the pilot decided to return to the departure airport. During landing, he attempted to keep the left MLG off the ground as long as possible, but the left wing impacted the ground, and the airplane exited the runway to the left. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left 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-Capability exceeded - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2019_GAA19CA271.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