FTW02FA037 · Grumman American AA-1B
Grumman American AA-1B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Harry P Williams Memorial Airport (PTN) to Thibodaux Municipal Airport (L83)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW02FA037
- 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
Grumman American AA-1B
- Aircraft type
- Grumman American 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
- N6530L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Harry P Williams Memorial Airport (PTN), Patterson, LATo Thibodaux Municipal Airport (L83), Thibodaux, LA
- 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
- Fuel starvation; 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 › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot taxied the airplane to the runway for takeoff. A witness reported that after liftoff, the airplane began a "shallow climb." When the airplane was at an approximate altitude of 90-100 feet agl, the engine lost power, regained partial power and then lost power again. The witness observed the airplane's nose lower. The witness stated that he thought the airplane was going to continue straight ahead; however, the airplane made an "abrupt" steep right bank. The airplane then nosed down and impacted the ground. The witness stated that the airplane's bank angle "appeared to go past 90 degrees." Examination of the airplane revealed the fuel selector was in the off position, and the left and right main fuel tanks were breached; however, there was usable fuel found in the left main tank and indications of fuel spillage near the separated right wing. No pre-impact mechanical deficiencies were noted during an examination of the engine, which would have precluded normal operation. Flight control continuity was confirmed from the cockpit to all flight control surfaces.
Probable cause
The pilot's mismanagement of fuel with the positioning of the fuel selector in the off position and his failure to maintain airspeed resulting in fuel starvation, and the airplane entering into a stall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW02FA037
- Event ID
- 20011128X02307
- Case number
- FTW02FA037
- 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, coordinates. 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: 0d47529f0a3fea8cdfd550f8890b5ad17b07f3f8f40abcd9cd45c74928ef9f6d; retrieved 2026-09-20T20:17:16.997Z.