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ATL83FA133 · Grumman American AA-1B

10 Mar 1983 · Chesapeake, VA, United States

Grumman American AA-1B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route

From an unrecorded airport to Elizabeth City Regional Airport & Coast Guard Air Station (ECG)

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Event

NTSB case
ATL83FA133
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 American AA-1B

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
N6266L
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Elizabeth City Regional Airport & Coast Guard Air Station (ECG), Elizabeth City, NC
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
En route · climb to cruise
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 (mechanical failure)
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

  • Fuel system, ram air/induction air › Blocked(partial)
  • Fuel system, ram air/induction air › Loose
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, compliance with ad, not performed

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

NTSB narrative

THE PLT TOOK OFF ON RWY 4 & MADE A CLIMBING LEFT TURN FOR A DOWNWIND DEPARTURE. AT APRX 900 FT, THERE WAS A PARTIAL LOSS OF POWER TO ABOUT IDLE RPM. THE PLT STATED THAT HE SWITCHED FUEL TANKS, APPLIED CARBURETOR HEAT & PUMPED THE THROTTLE, ALL TO NO AVAIL. HE TURNED BACK TO THE ARPT, BUT WAS UNABLE TO REACH THE RWY. THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED DURING A LANDING ON SOFT TERRAIN, APRX 150 YARDS SHORT OF RWY 22. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE INSIDE SCREEN & SPONGE ELEMENT OF THE AIR INTAKE FILTER, PN BA-4210, HAD COME LOOSE. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE SCREEN & SPONGE HAD BECOME LODGED IN THE THROAT OF THE CARBURETOR AIR BOX & OBSTRUCTED THE AIRFLOW TO THE CARBURETOR. THE METAL IN THE SCREEN WAS FOUND TO BE NON-MAGNETIC. AD 81-15-03 HAD BEEN ISSUED TO CORRECT THE FILTER PROBLEM BY REPLACING THE ALUMINUM SCREEN WITH A STEEL SCREEN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL83FA133
Event ID
20001214X42329
Case number
ATL83FA133
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: e14ac4ba54042c45f557a1b74092b1af6de8d90a062ec155cb3848258841b96b; retrieved 2026-09-22T02:45:44.654Z.