CHI86FA102 · Bellanca 17-30A
Bellanca 17-30A · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From 3D4 · Frankfort, MI to Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI86FA102
- 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
- 3 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Bellanca 17-30A
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 17
- 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
- N123RM
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 3D4 · Frankfort, MITo Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR), Grand Rapids, MI
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aircraft handling, uncontrolled
- Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, attempted
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Proper climb rate, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT WAS TAKING OFF FROM HIS LOCAL ARPT AND LOCAL RESIDENTS DESCRIBED CONDITIONS OF 100 FT VIS IN HEAVY GROUND FOG. AFTER LIFT-OFF HE BEGAN A LEFT TURN TOWARD A 300 FT HIGH RIDGE TOPPED BY 100 FT TREES. THE ACFT STRUCK THE TREE TOPS, THE PLT LOST CONTROL AND IMPACTED THE GROUND IN A STEEP NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI86FA102
- Event ID
- 20001213X33002
- Case number
- CHI86FA102
- 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: 443e8f2d6a905807a2e8ea72b7b8a2b20ce44fd2d902bf83a1669484103bdea0; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:38:39.512Z.