GAA15CA303 · Mitsubishi MU 2B-25 26A
Mitsubishi MU 2B-25 26A · Accident: ground collision while taxiing
From Paradise Lakes Airport (7CA2) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA15CA303
- 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
Mitsubishi MU 2B-25 26A
- Aircraft type
- Mitsubishi MU-2
- 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
- N553T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Paradise Lakes Airport (7CA2), Arvin, CATo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 41 years (built 1974)
- 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
- Taxi · into takeoff position
- Defining eventThe 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
- Ground collision
- 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
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot of the twin-engine, high-wing airplane, reported that while positioning the airplane for takeoff on a narrow private airstrip, the left wing impacted a tree, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing.
According to the pilot there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the pilot held a private pilot certificate with airplane single engine land rating, but did not hold a multi-engine rating.
The Federal Aviation Administration has published the Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3A (2004). This handbook discusses multi-engine ground handling and states in part:
Good habits learned with single-engine airplanes are directly applicable to multiengine airplanes for preflight and engine start. Upon placing the airplane in motion to taxi, the new multiengine pilot will notice several differences, however. The most obvious is the increased wingspan and the need for even greater vigilance while taxiing in close quarters. Ground handling may seem somewhat ponderous and the multiengine airplane will not be as nimble as the typical two- or four-place single-engine airplane. As always, use care not to ride the brakes by keeping engine power to a minimum. One ground handling advantage of the multiengine airplane over single engine airplanes is the differential power capability. Turning with an assist from differential power minimizes both the need for brakes during turns and the turning radius.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from trees while taxiing into position for takeoff on a narrow private airstrip, resulting in the left wing striking a tree.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA15CA303
- Event ID
- 20160725X70307
- Case number
- GAA15CA303
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 2b0b05ab18df41c4385f0696443cfcf42e0c2c61e2206c033950d62a9f9cb95b; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:41:51.679Z.