NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC24LA074
Registry · N9FW
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-31-350
Year of manufacture
1974 · 50 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING TI0-540 SER (310 hp)
Seats / Engines
8 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
19740706
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AC6B0C
Registrant of record
WRIGHT AIR SERVICE INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's continuation of an unstabilized approach and his failure to monitor the aircraft's altitude and airspeed during the approach, resulting in a loss of control.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that, after entering the traffic pattern before landing, the local tower controller asked him if he could accept a short approach to the arriving runway to accommodate other arriving traffic, and the pilot accepted. As the pilot maneuvered the airplane from the base leg to final approach, he allowed the airplane to descend below the intended glidepath, and he inadvertently allowed the airplanes airspeed to decay. As the airplane passed over the runway threshold, it rolled to the left, and the left wing struck the runway. The pilot momentarily aborted the landing but landed the airplane on a gravel covered airstrip, which was straight ahead and a short distance away. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical 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).
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Identification/recognition-Pilot
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2024_ANC24LA074.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, unstabilized approach). 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 2023 · Conference paper
Utilizing Deep Learning to Predict Unstabilized Approaches for General Aviation Aircraft
Unstabilized approaches pose a major hazard for general aviation aircraft. In the period from 2009 to 2019, 3,257 general aviation accidents occurred during the landing phase of flight in which loss o…
- 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.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗