NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC12CA104
Registry · N9723K
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
STINSON 108-2
Year of manufacture
1947 · 65 years old at event
Engine
FRANKLIN 6A4150 SERIES (150 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19570515
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD8DDE
Registrant of record
HESTON TIMOTHY J
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's selection of an unsuitable landing surface, which resulted in a loss of control during the landing roll.
Factual narrative
The pilot was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a tidal beach. During the landing roll, the right main landing gear contacted soft sand, which pulled the nose of the airplane to the right. The airplane continued to the right, and hit a bluff, sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot indicated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a tidal beach. During the landing roll, the right main landing gear contacted soft sand, which pulled the nose of the airplane to the right. The airplane continued to the right and hit a bluff, sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot indicated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - C
- C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Runway/land/takeoff/taxi surfa-Soft-Contributed to outcome - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_ANC12CA104.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗