Skip to content

ANC14CA026

2014-05-02 · Soldotna, Alaska, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SXQ

Current FAA registration · N3469C

Make / Model
CESSNA 170B
Year of manufacture
1954 · 60 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR 0-300 SER (145 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19551022
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A3D72E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to recognize a wind shift, resulting in a tailwind landing, loss of control, and ground loop.

Factual narrative

The student pilot was practicing solo takeoff and landings in a tailwheel-equipped airplane on a dry, hard surfaced runway. At the beginning of the flight, the winds were light and variable, but during the last landing, the wind had shifted to a slight tailwind. During the landing, the pilot lost control of the airplane, and ground looped, sustaining substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The student pilot was practicing solo takeoff and landings in a tailwheel-equipped airplane on a dry, hard surfaced runway. At the beginning of the flight, the winds were light and variable, but during the last landing, the wind had shifted to a slight tailwind. During the landing, the pilot lost control of the airplane, and ground looped, sustaining substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Identification/recognition-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2014_ANC14CA026.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing, loss of control). All research papers