NYC82FA203 · Champion 7ECA
Garrison Aviation Champion 7ECA · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Rehoboth Beach, DE to Rehoboth Beach, DE
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC82FA203
- 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
- 2 · 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
Champion 7ECA
- Aircraft type
- Champion 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
- N1886G
- Operator
- Garrison Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rehoboth Beach, DETo Rehoboth Beach, DE
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 terrain/water
- 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 › Altitude, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
ABOUT 15 MIN AFTER TAKEOFF, THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED TO ENTER A MANEUVER FROM LOW ALTITUDE OVER A BEACH AREA. DURING THE MANEUVER, THE PLANE PULLED UP, ENTERED A STEEP CLIMB AND THEN BANKED OR ROLLED LEFT AND ENTERED A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE. BEFORE RECOVERING, IT STRUCK THE SAND AT THE WATERS EDGE, BOUNCED AND THEN CAME TO REST IN SHALLOW WATER. REPORTEDLY, THE ENGINE SOUNDED NORMAL, EXCEPT WHEN THE PLANE DESCENDED AND TURNED, ONE WITNESS NOTED THAT THE SOUND LEVEL ROSE IN PITCH. AN EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE REVEALED NO INDICATION OF A PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE. THE PILOT WEIGHED 270 LBS AND OCCUPIED THE FRONT SEAT WHILE THE 180 LB PASSENGER WAS IN THE AFT SEAT. REPORTEDLY, THE PLANE HAD 35 GAL OF FUEL ON BOARD BEFORE TAKEOFF, BUT WAS WITHIN ITS WEIGHT AND BALANCE LIMITS. THE PILOT HAD RECENTLY RECEIVED 25 HRS OF DUAL INSTRUCTION FOR BANNER TOWING AND HAD BEEN INCLUDED IN THE OPERATORS WAIVER FOR AUTHORIZATION TO TOW.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC82FA203
- Event ID
- 20020917X04030
- Case number
- NYC82FA203
- 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: 5134047e41c5d84054cdfa1f3ab1b08d0d779fdc5a9526a066088c38226794b5; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:56:06.578Z.