GAA18CA035 · Smith AEROSTAR 600A 600
Smith AEROSTAR 600A 600 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Tallahassee International Airport (TLH) to Moton Field Municipal Airport (06A)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA035
- 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
Smith AEROSTAR 600A 600
- Aircraft type
- Smith AEROSTAR 600
- 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
- N211W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tallahassee International Airport (TLH), Tallahassee, FLTo Moton Field Municipal Airport (06A), Tuskegee, AL
- Aircraft age
- About 40 years (built 1977)
- 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
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 of the multiengine, retractable-landing-gear airplane reported that, during the initial climb, he "noted 105 IAS [indicated airspeed] as normal and reached down to retract the gear." He added that he "glanced down" to make sure he had grabbed the landing gear selector, and when he looked back outside, the airplane was "near the runway." He further added that he "pulled back hard on the yoke," but the propellers struck the runway, and the airplane then settled on the runway and skidded into the grass to the left.
The pilot reported in the National Transportation Safety Board Form 6120.1 Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report Safety Recommendation section that the airplane was "not high enough above [the] ground to raise the gear," and he may have "relaxed back-pressure on the yoke after rotation," and when leaning slightly forward for the gear handle, the yoke may had been pushed forward slightly.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The Federal Aviation Administration's Airplane Flying Handbook stated, in part:
Avoid premature landing gear retraction and do not retract the landing gear until a positive rate of climb is indicated on the flight instruments. If the airplane has not attained a positive rate of climb, there is always the chance it may settle back onto the runway with the gear retracted. This is especially so in cases of premature lift-off. Remember that leaning forward to reach the landing gear selector may result in inadvertent forward pressure on the yoke, which causes the airplane to descend.
Probable cause
The pilot's incorrect pitch control and premature landing gear retraction during the initial climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA035
- Event ID
- 20171030X43813
- Case number
- GAA18CA035
- 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, 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: 85c149a35bcf6fb3a93987c63b6df768ea9fea8991fdf2714c8080fc4c865359; retrieved 2026-09-16T05:58:18.739Z.