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NYC89LA112 · Champion 8KCAB

3 Apr 1989 · Manchester, NH, United States

Champion 8KCAB · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while standing

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
NYC89LA112
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

Champion 8KCAB Possible conflict

Aircraft type
Champion 8
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
N2520Z
Operator
Carol Grant
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Standing · engine(s) operating
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 on ground/water
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 › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Throttle/power control, inadvertent activation

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Manchester, NH, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT OF THE DECATHLON STATED THAT SHE HAD WARMED UP THE ENGINE AND WAS ATTACHING THE OVER-THE-SHOULDER STRAP FROM THE REAR ATTACHING POINT. AS SHE PULLED THE STRAP TO FASTEN IT, USING AN UNDERHAND MOTION, THE AIRCRAFT 'LURCHED FORWARD AT FULL THROTTLE'. THE TAIL WHEEL WAS COCKED OFF TO THE RIGHT, SO THE AIRCRAFT WENT TO THE RIGHT AT FULL THROTTLE AND CAUGHT THE REAR OF A PIPER PA-32R'S LEFT WING. THE PILOT SAID THAT THE SHOULDER STRAP HAD CAUGHT ON THE REAR POWER QUADRANT AND ADVANCED IT TO FULL THROTTLE WHEN SHE PULLED ON IT TO FASTEN IT. THE DAY FOLLOWING THE ACCIDENT A STATE AERONAUTICS COMMISSION REPRESENTATIVE ATTEMPTED TO DUPLICATE THE ACCIDENT AS DESCRIBED BY THE PILOT AND WAS UNABLE TO DO SO.

Probable cause

THE LOSS OF CONTROL AND COLLISION WITH A PARKED AIRCRAFT DUE TO THE INADVERTENT APPLICATION OF THE THROTTLE THAT TOOK PLACE AS THE PILOT WAS FASTENING THE OVER THE SHOULDER SAFETY HARNESS WHILE WARMING THE ENGINE IN PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC89LA112
Event ID
20001213X28184
Case number
NYC89LA112
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: 33783a1b68aa8e31da390d1cae38f40c86ea0d8835c01117747b07c734233769; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:44:40.087Z.