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Atlas / NTSB / WPR13CA311

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR13CA311

2013-07-06 Long Beach, California, United States Airport · LGB Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N613AP

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BELLANCA 8GCBC

Year of manufacture

1976 · 37 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19770527

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A7F9F1

Registrant of record

THOMAS LUCAS G

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot did not maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall and loss of aircraft control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's improper use of flaps.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he had full flaps extended during a low fly-by for the ground crew to inspect the banner. After the pass the pilot did not retract the flaps. During the climb, the airspeed deteriorated and the airplane stalled and impacted wires and a hillside. During the accident sequence, the right wing separated from the fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that he had full flaps extended during a low fly-by for the ground crew to inspect the banner. After the pass the pilot did not retract the flaps. During the climb, the airspeed deteriorated and the airplane stalled and impacted wires and a hillside. During the accident sequence, the right wing separated from the fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures 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 Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring equip/instruments-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
  • F Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Configuration-Incorrect use/operation - F
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2013_WPR13CA311.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 ↗