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CEN10CA490

2010-08-20 · Austin, Texas, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 3R9

Current FAA registration · N106LB

Make / Model
PIPER PA-46-310P
Year of manufacture
1985 · 25 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR TSIO-520 SER (300 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19850816
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A01BFA

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain a stabilized approach, which resulted in a loss of control on landing with a tailwind.

Factual narrative

The private pilot reported that he was distracted by his passenger, who was seated in the back of his single-engine, turbo-prop equipped airplane, and landed on a runway with an 18 knot tailwind. The pilot was unable to slow down and attempted to abort the landing by abruptly applying full power to go around. The pilot said he pushed the throttle in too fast and got no power. he said he realized he had "flooded the engine." The pilot then maneuvered the airplane away from approaching obstacles at the end of the runway and then went off the runway, and crossed a ditch on to a golf course before coming to a stop. The airplane sustained structural damage to the left wing. The left main landing gear and propeller were also damaged. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane. The pilot reported that he was distracted by his passenger, who was seated in the back of the airplane. He landed with an 18 knot tailwind and, after being unable to slow the airplane, attempted to abort the landing by abruptly applying full engine power. He advanced the throttle too fast and the engine power did not respond. He realized that he had flooded the engine and maneuvered the airplane away from approaching obstacles at the end of the runway. The airplane continued off the runway and crossed a ditch on to a golf course before coming to a stop; it sustained structural damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical deficiencies with the airplane. 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-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2010_CEN10CA490.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