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CEN10CA439

2010-07-26 · Delta, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport AJZ

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A loss of control on the ground due to a malfunction of the right brake caliper.

Factual narrative

As the pilot reached 40 knots on his takeoff roll, the airplane started to drift off the left side of the runway. The pilot thought that he had encountered a quartering tailwind and tried to correct with right brake. The airplane then veered to the right and the pilot applied left brake and rudder. This had no effect, so the pilot reduced power. The wheels sank into soft ground and the airplane nosed over. Postaccident inspection revealed heavy black marks from both the left and right tires. The right wheel would not turn even with the brake line removed. When the brake caliper was removed, the wheel rotated freely. The caliper then appeared to function normally. As the pilot reached 40 knots on his takeoff roll, the airplane started to drift off the left side of the runway. The pilot thought that he had encountered a quartering tailwind and tried to correct with right brake. The airplane then veered to the right and the pilot applied left brake and rudder. This had no effect, so the pilot reduced power. The wheels sank into soft ground and the airplane nosed over. Postaccident inspection revealed heavy black marks from both the left and right tires. The right wheel would not turn even with the brake line removed. When the brake caliper was removed, the wheel rotated freely. The caliper then appeared to function normally. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft systems-(general)-(general)-Malfunction - C
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Rough terrain-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2010_CEN10CA439.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

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