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SEA89GA064

1989-04-02 · HAWTHORNE, Nevada, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HTH

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED AND PROPER FLYING ATTITUDE RESULTING IN A STALL MUSH. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE DENSITY ALTITUDE AND THE VARIABLE WINDS.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT ROTATED AND CLIMBED AT AN AIRSPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 65 KNOTS INDICATED. AT ABOUT 40 FEET AGL. HE HEARD THE STALL WARNING, LOWERED THE NOSE OF THE AIRCRAFT, ADDED ANOTHER 10 DEGREES OF FLAPS, FOR A TOTAL OF 20 DEGREES OF FLAPS, AND THEN DESCENDED TO THE GROUND, STRIKING THE LEFT WING AND THE AFT PORTION OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER AND CAME TO REST ON ITS LEFT SIDE. THE PILOT REPORTED WINDS WERE CHANGING DIRECTION AND VELOCITY. THE AIRCRAFT WAS CLOSE TO GROSS WEIGHT. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WAS IN EXCESS OF 6,000 FEET. A WITNESS STATED THAT THE PLT RAISED THE NOSE OF THE ACFT AS THE ACFT BEGAN TO LOSE ALTITUDE. THE PLT DID NOT FILE AN ACC REPORT. THE NORMAL PREVAILING WINDS AT THIS ARPT ARE PUBLISHED AS BEING FROM THE NW. RWY 10 USED FOR TAKEOFF HAS AN UPGRADE OF 0.81 PERCENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_SEA89GA064.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