MIA99FA208 · Gulfstream American AA-1B
Gulfstream American AA-1B · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Hilliard Airpark (01J) to 55J · FERNANDINA BCH, FL
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA99FA208
- 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
- 1 · 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
Gulfstream American AA-1B
- Aircraft type
- Gulfstream 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
- N9888L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hilliard Airpark (01J)To 55J · FERNANDINA BCH, FL
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Airport facilities, runway/landing area condition › Closed
- Pilot in command › Notams, not obtained
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that they flew to Hilliard Airpark to practice soft field techniques, and after the initial soft field landing they taxied the length of the field and discussed the takeoff, density altitude, obstacles on the climbout, takeoff weight, and selected a point on the field beyond which point they would initiate a rejected takeoff if necessary. The pilot further stated that after a brief run-up, they initiated the takeoff and climbout with the engine developing normal power, but as they approached the trees on climbout, he relinquished control to the flight instructor-rated passenger when it became apparent they were not going to clear the trees. The pilot stated that the rated passenger assumed control and tried to turn the airplane slightly to the left to an area where the trees were shorter and offered better clearance, but the right wing hit a tree and the aircraft crashed nose down and came to rest inverted. The airport had been notamed closed, and the runway marked with an X, indicating that it was closed. The airport and runway closures were due to tree growth off the end of the runways, along the flight path. The pilot did not give any indication that he checked the notams, or that he was aware that the airport was closed.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to obtain notams and his improper planning and decision to use a closed runway for takeoff with tall trees on the departure end, resulting in a subsequent collision with the trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA99FA208
- Event ID
- 20001212X19575
- Case number
- MIA99FA208
- 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: 39f5697be2cd380f70fa002631daf92ed94c0f837f00f764aa0e3506f3926af1; retrieved 2026-09-20T21:56:01.547Z.