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Atlas / NTSB / ANC12CA030

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC12CA030

2012-04-15 Fairbanks, Alaska, United States Airport · PAFA None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N7227D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-22-150

Year of manufacture

1957 · 55 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19570322

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A9AE4B

Registrant of record

ROBINSON ERIC C

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of directional control during landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's decision not to initiate a go-around.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a hard surfaced runway. About 6 inches above the runway, a gust of wind lifted the right wing, the left main landing gear contacted the runway, and the airplane began to turn to the left. He said he was unable to correct for the turn with rudder, and the airplane ground looped to the left, striking the right wing on the ground. The airplane received substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He stated that the accident could have been prevented had a go-around decision been made at the initial recognition of the wind gust. The pilot reported that he was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a hard surfaced runway. About 6 inches above the runway, a gust of wind lifted the right wing, the left main landing gear contacted the runway, and the airplane began to turn to the left. The pilot said that he was unable to correct for the turn with rudder, and the airplane ground looped to the left, striking the right wing on the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He stated that the accident could have been prevented had a go-around decision been made at the initial recognition of the wind gust. 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).

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • F Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - F
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_ANC12CA030.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗