NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC11CA081
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain the proper approach path, which resulted in a runway undershoot.
Factual narrative
The pilot said he was attempting to land a tailwheel-equipped airplane at an off-airport site, which was surrounded by higher terrain on all sides. Before beginning his approach, he determined the wind conditions, and then planned an approach into a 10-knot headwind. He said while on final approach to the site, he "side-slipped" the airplane to steepen the approach, and a sudden wind shift caused the airplane to descend faster than anticipated. He was unable to arrest the descent, and the airplane's main landing gear wheels collided with a mound about 150 feet short of the intended touchdown point. The airplane bounced as the pilot added engine power to cushion the landing, and as it touched down again, the main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The pilot said he was attempting to land a tailwheel-equipped airplane at an off-airport site, which was surrounded by higher terrain on all sides. Before beginning his approach, the pilot determined the wind conditions and then planned an approach into a 10-knot headwind. He said that, while on final approach to the site, he "side-slipped" the airplane to steepen the approach, and a sudden wind shift caused the airplane to descend faster than anticipated. He was unable to arrest the descent, and the airplane's main landing gear wheels collided with a mound about 150 feet short of the intended touchdown point. The airplane bounced as the pilot added engine power to cushion the landing, and as it touched down again, the main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Mountainous/hilly terrain-Contributed to outcome
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Sudden wind shift-Contributed to outcome
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-(general)-(general)-Pilot - C
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2011_ANC11CA081.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.