NYC82FNA15 · Aeronca 7AC
Aeronca 7AC · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Danvers, MA to Danvers, MA
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC82FNA15
- 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
Aeronca 7AC
- Aircraft type
- Aeronca 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
- N2983E
- Operator
- G. Read Hamilton
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Danvers, MATo Danvers, MA
- 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 collision with object
- 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
- 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 › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Danvers, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE PREVIOUS FLIGHT, THE AIRCRAFT HAD RUN OUT OF FUEL AND WAS SUCCESSFULLY LANDED IN AN OPEN FIELD. THIS OCCURRED WHILE THE FUEL GAUGE WAS INDICATING 1/4 FULL. THE PILOT SERVICED THE PLANE WITH 5 GALLONS OF NO-LEAD AUTO FUEL AND STRIPPED IT OF EXCESS WEIGHT. HE ATTEMPTED TO FLY OUT OF THE FIELD, BUT HAD INSUFFICIENT SPEED AT THE DECISION POINT AND ABORTED. HE THEN ELECTED TO TAKEOFF FROM A 500 FT SECTION OF AN ADJACENT HIGHWAY WITH TREES AT THE END OF THE AREA. THE TAKEOFF WAS BEGUN ON A BRIGHT MOONLIT LIGHT AND WITH ILLUMINATION FROM A STREET LIGHT. AFTER LIFT-OFF IN A NORTHEASTERLY DIRECTION, A SHARP LEFT TURN WAS MADE AT AN ALTITUDE OF 12 TO 25 FT AGL TO AVOID THE TREES. ALSO, THIS TURN WAS AWAY FROM POWER LINES ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY. A WITNESS STATED THAT THE RIGHT WING HIT THE TREES. AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE LEFT WING CONTACTED THE GROUND AND THE PLANE CRASHED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC82FNA15
- Event ID
- 20020917X04054
- Case number
- NYC82FNA15
- 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: 9cc2b3d8a8a3a280a8b99c468dd4358a45230e73973a6db5cdaeca8bc0a74498; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:02:36.188Z.