CEN24LA315 · Grumman American AVN. CORP. AA-5B
Grumman American AVN. CORP. AA-5B · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN24LA315
- 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
Grumman American AVN. CORP. AA-5B
- Aircraft type
- Grumman American AA-5
- 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
- N23JK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 49 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During the takeoff roll the pilot’s seat suddenly slid backward, and she was unable to reach the pedals, which resulted in a loss of control and runway excursion. Examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the engine mount, fuselage, and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot’s seat tracks were a newer heat-treated version. There were wear marks on the seat lock pin tip indicative of previous alignment issues. The spring that held the lock pins in place was installed incorrectly and the corresponding push-pull rod was bent. This incorrect spring placement shortened the travel of the spring and reduced the tension on the lock pins. The seat brackets that attach to the spar exhibited worn and elongated bolt holes, which created a misalignment of the seat support. It’s likely that the condition of the seat locking mechanism prevented the seat from locking correctly, which resulted in the seat sliding back during takeoff. A review of the available airframe maintenance records did not reveal any entries regarding inspections or work performed on the seats or the seat tracks. The investigation was unable to determine when the pilot’s seat was last inspected, when the lock pin spring was incorrectly installed, and by whom.
Probable cause
The inadequate maintenance of the seat locking mechanism, which resulted in the pilot’s seat sliding back during takeoff and a subsequent loss of control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN24LA315
- Event ID
- 20240814194929
- Case number
- CEN24LA315
- 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, 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: e6cbafd570d9958c64127db6ca7009bced69765be3778f717a056c15c38b97ae; retrieved 2026-09-16T19:10:11.741Z.