FTW95LA033 · Bellanca 14-13-2
Bellanca 14-13-2 · Accident: undershoot on approach
From F67 · Grand Prairie, TX to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95LA033
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Bellanca 14-13-2
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 14
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N86781
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From F67 · Grand Prairie, TXTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Undershoot
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, transmission
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Distance/altitude, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND (PIC/PRIVATE PILOT) AND STUDENT PILOT WERE ON AN APPROACH TO RUNWAY 18 WITH THE STUDENT AT THE CONTROLS. WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH APPROXIMATELY 1-1/4 MILES SHORT OF THE RUNWAY, THEY NOTICED THE AIRCRAFT WAS LOW. POWER WAS APPLIED TO INITIATE A CLIMB; HOWEVER, THE AIRCRAFT CONTACTED THE TOP CABLE OF A POWER LINE, THEN 'STRUCK THE GROUND IN A NOSE DOWN, LEFT WING TIP (LOW) ATTITUDE.' BOTH PILOTS REPORTED THAT THE STUDENT WAS AT THE CONTROLS WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. TOXICOLOGY TESTS PERFORMED ON THE PIC AND STUDENT PILOT DETECTED POSITIVE LEVELS OF CANNABINOIDS IN THE URINE. THE FAA REGIONAL FLIGHT SURGEON WAS CONSULTED REGARDING DRUG RELATED IMPAIRMENT. HE WAS UNABLE TO MAKE A DETERMINATION. BOTH PILOTS' MEDICAL CERTIFICATES WERE EXPIRED. THE PIC DID NOT HAVE A CURRENT BIENNIAL FLIGHT REVIEW.
Probable cause
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S MISJUDGMENT OF ALTITUDE AND DISTANCE TO THE RUNWAY, WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH TO LAND, AND HIS FAILURE TO ENSURE ALTITUDE AND CLEARANCE FROM OBSTACLES, WHILE ALLOWING THE STUDENT PILOT TO BE ON THE CONTROLS. DARKNESS WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95LA033
- Event ID
- 20001206X02453
- Case number
- FTW95LA033
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1994-10-28.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6fb51de850e1168e4a73923a99bf112e1629b0eb23e154be78992fd90ee06e33; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:33:31.675Z.