Engine Troubles Force 1969 Grumman Yankee Aircraft to Land on La Cienega Way

The pilot, who owns the plane, was flying with his flight instructor when they encountered an engine problem, said CHP Officer I.M. Hoey. The flight instructor took over and landed the plane, which, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Registry, is registered to Arlen G. Butler of Sacramento. The plane landed on Cameron Park Drive, turned at the light at La Canada, then stopped on La Cienega Way.

The FAA waited for approval from the National Transportation Safety Board before moving the plane back to the Cameron Park Airport via Oxford Road, Teter said. The NTSB, Teter said, “is calling it an ‘aircraft incident’ rather than an ‘aircraft accident’ because there was no property damage or damage to the plane.”

The Grumman American AA-1 series is a family of light, 2-seat aircraft. The family includes the original American Aviation AA-1 Yankee Clipper and AA-1A Trainer, the Grumman American AA-1B Trainer and TR-2 and the Gulfstream American AA-1C Lynx and T-Cat.

AA-1 Yankee Clipper:
American's engineers reworked the wing to a non-folding design, easing FAR Part 23 certification. Other changes included adding extended wing tips to improve rate-of-climb, an anti-servo tab on the elevator along with a centering spring system to increase longitudinal stability and stall strips to improve handling during a stall. The company designated the redesigned aircraft the AA-1 Yankee Clipper.

The AA-1 was certified under FAR Part 23 on August 29, 1967 with the first production AA-1 flying on May 30, 1968. The first 1969 models were delivered in the fall of 1968 at a base price of US$6495, notably lower than competitive aircraft types cost at that time. American Aviation built 459 examples of the AA-1 Yankee Clipper between 1969 and 1971 at their factory in Cleveland, Ohio.