FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

ERA20LA162 · IAI 1125 Astra SP

24 Apr 2020 · Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

IAI 1125 Astra SP · Accident: runway excursion during takeoff

From Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) to Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS)

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
ERA20LA162
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

IAI 1125 Astra SP

Aircraft type
Iai 1125
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
YV3427
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE), Fort Lauderdale, FLTo Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS), Maiquetía
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
Takeoff · rejected 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
Runway excursion
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 the takeoff roll and at rotation speed, the airplane did not respond when he pulled back on the control yoke. He tried to rotate again, about 130 knots, which was above decision speed. With no response, he performed a rejected takeoff with maximum braking and full reverse thrust. The airplane departed the end of the runway, proceeded through the paved overrun, and into the grass beyond the runway. The nose gear separated, and the right main gear collapsed. The airplane pivoted to the left and came to a stop in the grass, near the perimeter access road. The airframe sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing.

The pilot was using takeoff performance data for a flaps 20° takeoff, for which the maximum allowable takeoff weight was 22,000 lbs for the temperature at the time (the reported temperature at the time of the accident was 35° C). The pilot estimated that the airplane weighed about 22,620 lbs; however, he did not weigh the cargo on board and did not compute a center of gravity prior to the accident flight. FAA inspectors weighed the cargo with a calibrated scale after the accident. Given the actual weight of the cargo, the total weight of the airplane was about 24,206 lbs, or 2,206 lbs above the maximum weight for that configuration. Additionally, postaccident examination of the airplane, including an operational check of the elevator and trim, did not reveal evidence of a mechanical malfunction or anomaly. Data download from the digital electronic engine controls also showed that the engines were operating normally and as demanded during the takeoff and accident sequence. Given this information, it is likely that the airplane did not rotate as expected during the accident takeoff because it had been loaded in excess of the weight that was appropriate for the configuration and temperature.

Probable cause

The pilot’s inadequate preflight planning, resulting in an attempted takeoff in excess of the airplane’s maximum allowable weight given it’s configuration and the temperature.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ERA20LA162
Event ID
20200427X70009
Case number
ERA20LA162
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, cause areas. 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: c129dba8ae22b6d48c16e55e2f8d7a7e1dc26c5c32ea8be8776640fbd0db6ed9; retrieved 2026-09-16T11:31:45.175Z.