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ATL95FA022 · American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A

29 Nov 1994 · Gastonia, NC, United States

American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

From Lakeway Airpark (3R9) to OA6

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Event

NTSB case
ATL95FA022
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
2 · 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

American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A

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
N9260L
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Lakeway Airpark (3R9), Lakeway, TXTo OA6
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
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
Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
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
Fuel exhaustion; Stall
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED DURING A RETURN FLIGHT FROM TEXAS. WHILE MANEUVERING FOR THE VISUAL APPROACH TO THE DESTINATION AIRPORT, THE ENGINE QUIT, AND THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH A MULTI-FAMILY APARTMENT BUILDING DURING AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT. EXAMINATION OF REFUELING RECORDS INDICATED THAT THE PILOT'S LAST REFUELING STOP WAS 360 MILES SOUTH OF THE ACCIDENT SITE. A REVIEW OF PREVIOUS LEGS DISCLOSED THAT THE PILOT HAD NOT FLOWN MORE THAN 326 MILES ON ANY SEGMENT BEFORE A PLANNED REFUELING STOP. THE FLIGHT PLAN ALSO INDICATED THAT THE ACTUAL FUEL CONSUMPTION FOR A 292 MILE LEG WAS 20 GALLONS; THE PILOT HAD ESTIMATED FUEL CONSUMPTION OF 14 GALLONS FOR THE SAME SEGMENT OR SIX GALLONS LESS THAN THE ACTUAL CONSUMPTION. ON THE RETURN LEG TO GASTONIA, THE PILOT ENCOUNTERED LOW CEILINGS AND RAIN SHOWERS. A FEW OUNCES OF FUEL WERE RECOVERED FROM THE AIRCRAFT FUEL SYSTEM, AND THERE WAS NO OBVIOUS INDICATION OF FUEL SPILLAGE AT THE ACCIDENT SITE. FUEL CONSERVATION MEASURES USED BY THE PILOT WERE NOT DETERMINED.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ADEQUATELY PLAN THE FUEL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FLIGHT, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION, AND THE SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE PILOT ALSO FAILED TO MAINTAIN FLYING AIRSPEED WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF CONTROL, DURING THE EMERGENCY DESCENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL95FA022
Event ID
20001206X02546
Case number
ATL95FA022
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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 159176ae48315d8d8278062d94ec87cc87705f696f8448dc0f17f5694ebd5715; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:55:36.624Z.