FTW87FA137 · Grumman AA-1B
Grumman AA-1B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Speed Shore Company Headquarters Heliport (11XS) to 3R5 · New Braunfels, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW87FA137
- 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 AA-1B
- Aircraft type
- Grumman 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
- N1403R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Speed Shore Company Headquarters Heliport (11XS), Bulverde, TXTo 3R5 · New Braunfels, TX
- 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
- Partial 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
- Stall
- 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 › Checklist, not followed
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT ATTEMPTED LIFTOFF TWO OR THREE TIMES BUT AFTER EACH TRY THE ACFT WOULD SETTLE BACK ONTO THE RWY. WHEN ABOUT 50 YARDS FROM THE END OF THE RWY, THE ACFT AGAIN LIFTED OFF THE GROUND AND CLIMBED TO ABOUT 15 FT. THE PLT STATED THAT THE STALL WARNING ACTIVATED AND HE IMMEDIATELY ABORTED THE TKOF. THE ACFT TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE RWY END AND THE PLT INTENTIONALLY STEERED OFF THE RT SIDE OF THE RWY IN ORDER TO AVOID A STEEP DROP-OFF INTO A RIVER BED. EXAM OF THE ACFT AND ENGINE DID NOT REVEAL ANY PREIMPACT FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS. THE PLT STATED THAT HE DID NOT ASSURE THAT THE MAGNETO SWITCH WAS PROPERLY SEATED IN THE BOTH POSITION PRIOR TO TKOF AND AS A RESULT OF THIS THE ACFT WOULD NOT CLIMB PROPERLY. THE ACFT'S CERTIFICATED GROSS WEIGHT WAS EXCEEDED BY 12 POUNDS AT TKOF AND THE TKOF WAS ATTEMPTED WITH A 5 KNOT TAILWIND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW87FA137
- Event ID
- 20001213X31191
- Case number
- FTW87FA137
- 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: 85e932a31a5dc46ddd55cdddbd86f98fc62387fbaa051dd577f541deb1bdf757; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:28:54.850Z.