Takeoff & Initial Climb · NTSB WPR13FA041
AMERICAN AA-1 — Morgan, UT
| Date | November 15, 2012 |
| Location | Morgan, UT |
| Aircraft | AMERICAN AA-1 |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Dawn · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Initial climb Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 50 |
| Pilot total time | 21,271 hrs · High time |
| Time in type | 23 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Altitude-Not attained/maintained - C
- Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Temp/humidity/pressure-Conducive to structural icing-Effect on equipment - C
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot - C
What happened
A witness reported that the airplane took off just before sunrise and that the engine sounded normal. During climbout, the airplane impacted rising terrain about 3 miles from the airport and about 776 feet above field elevation. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. A review of the recorded meteorological data showed that the weather conditions were conducive to frost formation. Further, a witness at the airport reported observing frost on the surfaces of parked airplanes on the day of the accident. Therefore, it is likely that the airplane had frost on its surfaces before takeoff and that the pilot failed to adequately clear the frost off the airplane during the preflight inspection, which increased drag and reduced the production of lift; therefore, the airplane was unable to gain sufficient altitude to clear the rising terrain.