CHI98LA161 · Grumman American AA-1C
Grumman American AA-1C · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Mokhotlong Airport (MKH) to Neosho Hugh Robinson Airport (EOS)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI98LA161
- 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
Grumman American AA-1C
- Aircraft type
- Grumman American AA-1
- 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
- N954OU
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mokhotlong Airport (MKH)To Neosho Hugh Robinson Airport (EOS), Neosho, MO
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Airspeed, not attained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported the airplane was 5 to 7 pounds below the maximum gross takeoff weight of 1,600 pounds. The pilot reported that the tower stated the 'winds between runways 13 and 21, but favoring runway 13, winds 17 kts w/gusts to 26 kts.' The pilot aborted the first takeoff because the airplane was skipping sideways. The pilot reported the second takeoff was normal, but at 100 feet agl, '...there appeared to be a loss of power with a resultant loss of climb to [a] negative rate.' He reported that due to obstructions, the only option was to make a slight turn to the right. He reported that he maintained full throttle until touchdown. He reported the airplane landed level, but the nose wheel dug into the plowed field that resulted in the airplane nosing over. The airport elevation was 1,056 feet and the Density Altitude was 3,140 feet. The Surface Observation at 1454 was: Winds 180 degrees at 20 knots gusting to 26 knots with peak winds 170 degrees at 31 knots. Runway 13 is 3,800 feet long. Runway 21 is 7,000 feet long. The pilot reported, '...I should have taken off on the longer runway.'
Probable cause
the pilot did not attain proper flying speed. Factors included the high density altitude and crosswind condition.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI98LA161
- Event ID
- 20001211X10019
- Case number
- CHI98LA161
- 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: 812292b7791e7de37f078e21d3957f20269841fbdbbe150495bc4383997b4360; retrieved 2026-09-22T17:46:58.874Z.