NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC13CA018
Registry · N121KT
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
DEHAVILLAND DHC-2 MK. I(L20A)
Year of manufacture
1958 · 54 years old at event
Engine
P&W R-985 SERIES (450 hp)
Seats / Engines
8 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19760804
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A0585C
Registrant of record
RUSTAIR INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's loss of control while landing in gusting wind conditions.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that when he departed, about 50 minutes before the accident, the wind was “light out of the north, northwest." As he continued the flight, the wind became variable southwest to northeast. Once he reached his destination, an off-airport snow-covered site, landing the wheel/ski-equipped airplane required a correction for a right quartering headwind that was gusting 20 to 25 knots. During the approach, about 20 to 25 feet above the site, the wind shifted to a tailwind. The airplane landed hard in a three-point attitude. A postaccident inspection of the airplane revealed structural damage to the empennage. There were no reported preaccident malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane landed hard in a three point attitude. The pilot reported that when he departed, about 50 minutes before the accident, the wind was “light out of the north, northwest." As he continued the flight, the wind became variable southwest to northeast. Once he reached his destination, an off-airport snow-covered site, landing the wheel/ski-equipped airplane required a correction for a right quartering headwind that was gusting 20 to 25 knots. During the approach, about 20 to 25 feet above the site, the wind shifted to a tailwind. The airplane landed hard in a three-point attitude. A postaccident inspection of the airplane revealed structural damage to the empennage. There were no reported preaccident malfunctions or failures 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-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Contributed to outcome
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_ANC13CA018.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 ↗