MIA01LA175 · Bucker-Jungmann Aero Z-131
Bucker-Jungmann Aero Z-131 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during initial climb
From Rupert, GA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA01LA175
- 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
- 1 · 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
Bucker-Jungmann Aero Z-131
- Aircraft type
- Bucker Jungmann AERO Z-131
- 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
- N4842
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rupert, GATo 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
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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/mush; 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The accident pilot preflighted the airplane which had about 1/4 to 1/3 fuel capacity. The wind was from the west-northwest at 5-10 miles per hour (mph); the flight towing a glider departed from the westerly oriented runway. The glider pilot stated that after liftoff the tow pilot remained in ground effect and the tow plane drifted over to the left side of the runway and hit the top of a small scrub oak that was about 15ft high and 1000 ft before the end of the runway. The glider pilot also stated that the accident pilot set up a normal climb attitude and about 70 mph to about 250 feet above ground level (agl). At that point, "...we encountered heavy sink/downdraft, with some turbulence which suddenly dropped us about 100ft. Noting this condition, I released the tow rope from the glider and terminated the tow. At this time, I heard the Bucker's engine running and it sounded strong. I then turned right and [the towplane] continued to drift and turn slightly left which is also where a line of about 100ft pine trees are located about 1000ft from the end of the runway." The glider pilot also stated, "About 10 seconds later, I saw that [the towplane] was still in a climb attitude and in sink. I saw him appear to release the rope from the Bucker and then clip the top of the tallest tree. He then seemed to snap roll to the left and into the ground." Examination of the airplane at the accident site by an FAA inspector revealed no evidence of flight control preimpact failure or malfunction. The airplane was recovered and a replacement propeller was installed for the engine run. The engine started and was operated to an estimated 1,000 rpm but could not accelerate; impact damage was noted to the servo fuel injector (servo). Bench testing of the servo revealed no discrepancies related to fuel flow.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in a stall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA01LA175
- Event ID
- 20010628X01282
- Case number
- MIA01LA175
- 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: 5aa22cd7d9a85ecfcd841e3927943d60d4bccb610fa1b7ec2e46695dade9a65b; retrieved 2026-09-20T20:29:09.334Z.