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ATL89LA156 · Champion 7GCBC

2 Jun 1989 · Myrtle Beach, SC, United States

Barnstormers FLT. Signs Champion 7GCBC · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing

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Event

NTSB case
ATL89LA156
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 7GCBC

Aircraft type
Champion 7
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
N1652G
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
Landing · flare/touchdown
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

  • Flight control, rudder › Jammed
  • Glider launch/tow equipment › Improper
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, modification, improper

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER DROPPING A BANNER, THE PLT ELECTED TO MAKE A 3-POINT LNDG AT A SMALL PVT ARPT WITH THE WND GUSTING TO 15 KTS. HE RPRTD THAT JUST BEFORE TOUCHDOWN, THE ACFT ENCTRD A DOWNDRAFT & HE INCREASED BACK PRESSURE ON THE CONTROL STICK TO BREAK THE DESCENT. THE ACFT CONTACTED THE RWY TAIL 1ST & BOUNCED SLIGHTLY. IT THEN SWERVED TO THE LEFT, WENT OFF THE RWY & NOSED OVER IN AN ADJACENT BEAN FIELD. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT REVEALED THE RUDDER HAD CONTACTED ONE OF THE BANNER TOW HOOKS & WAS JAMMED TO THE LEFT. THE BANNER TOW INSTALLATION HAD RECENTLY BEEN MODIFIED FROM A SINGLE HOOK TO A MULTIPLE HOOK SYS. IN A LETTER DATED 5/31/89, THE FAA NOTIFIED THE FACILITY WHICH PERFORMED THE MODIFICATION THAT THE MULTIPLE HOOK INSTALLATION COULD NOT BE APPROVED AS SUBMITTED (ON FAA FORM 337).

Probable cause

THE IMPROPER INSTALLATION/MODIFICATION OF THE BANNER TOW SYSTEM, WHICH JAMMED THE RUDDER DURING A LANDING. THE WIND AND TERRAIN CONDITIONS WERE RELATED FACTORS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL89LA156
Event ID
20001213X28490
Case number
ATL89LA156
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: 05f4e6f8a08a5f3b935b0dbc28bcedab9661dd3ede2287620565a94f2cfabbe5; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:32:57.702Z.