SEA01LA088 · Maule Air Inc. M-7-235
Maule Air Inc. M-7-235 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Lopez Island Airport (S31) to Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA01LA088
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Maule Air Inc. M-7-235
- Aircraft type
- Maule Air M-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
- N5669S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lopez Island Airport (S31), Lopez Island, WATo Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE), Everett, WA
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Airframe, component or system 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that while on final approach for landing, the aircraft began to drift to the left. The pilot corrected with rudder control, however, the aircraft continued to drift. The pilot also applied aileron input, however, the aircraft continued to drift to the left and begin a left circular turn. The pilot elected to go-around to try and remedy the problem. Power was added which resulted in the aircraft yawing to the left even with full right rudder and aileron control inputs. The pilot reported that he had no directional control and opted to land the aircraft off airport. During this turn, the left wing continued to drop and the aircraft lost altitude. The pilot located an open field and landed the aircraft left wing low and nose down. A Federal Aviation Administration Inspector responded to the accident site and later followed up when the aircraft was recovered from the accident site. The inspector reported that he inspected the flight control system, but did not find evidence of a mechanical failure or malfunction.
Probable cause
A system failure for undetermined reasons while on final approach. The pilot's failure to maintain control of the aircraft was a factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA01LA088
- Event ID
- 20010522X00992
- Case number
- SEA01LA088
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2001-05-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6a740c2866b4bec7e2c01873657ded462e34bff28c04471aee11526f59dd143b; retrieved 2026-09-22T11:58:17.150Z.