GAA18CA335 · Beech A36
Beech A36 · Accident: aerodynamic stall/spin during takeoff
From Gilliam Airport (LA54) to Gilliam Airport (LA54)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA335
- 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
Beech A36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 36
- 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
- N710JT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gilliam Airport (LA54), Gilliam, LATo Gilliam Airport (LA54), Gilliam, LA
- Aircraft age
- About 43 years (built 1975)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Aerodynamic stall/spin
- 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
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, during a soft-field takeoff from a private grass airstrip, he applied slight aft pressure to the yoke to lighten the load on the nosewheel. The airplane became airborne, but while in ground effect, the left wing dropped about 10º, and the left main landing gear contacted the runway. The airplane settled back on the ground pointing about 30º left of the runway heading. The airplane then departed the runway to the left and ground looped, during which the left landing gear collapsed. The airplane slid backward and came to rest upright on the field adjacent the airstrip.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to both ailerons.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The pilot added that the airplane's weight and balance were within the operational limitations in the Pilot's Operating Handbook.
The automated weather observation system located on an airport 18 nautical miles (nm) south of the accident site reported that, about 17 minutes before the accident, the wind was from 90º at 5 knots. An automated weather observation station located on an airport 22 nm southeast of the accident site reported that, about 14 minutes before the accident, the wind was from 110º at 3 knots. The airplane departed from runway 26.
Probable cause
The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during a soft-field takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA335
- Event ID
- 20180606X52913
- Case number
- GAA18CA335
- 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: 704f2a7b18f0998f98e6d74553ad82d49e6b2362231e130aa0c706146765066d; retrieved 2026-09-16T07:23:38.874Z.