Skip to content

CEN12CA399

2012-06-21 · Point Lookout, Missouri, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport KPLK

Current FAA registration · N53WE

Make / Model
EDSON ROBERT W PIETENPOL AIR CAMPER
Year of manufacture
2012 · 0 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR O-200A (100 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20131009
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A6B00D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing, resulting in a ground-loop.

Factual narrative

On the fourth landing of a test flight, the airplane made a hard, full stall landing and began drifting to the right. The pilot applied left rudder pedal to arrest the drift and the airplane ground looped 180 degrees to the left. The pilot applied right rudder to stop the left swing but to no avail. The right main landing gear went off the side of the runway and down a 2-foot drop-off. The right wing tip struck the ground, breaking the wing tip and front and rear wing spars. The aircraft came to rest off the side of the runway, pointed west down runway 30. At 0745, Branson Airport (KBBG) AWOS, located about 7 nautical miles south of Point Lookout, reported wind 310 degrees at 9 knots, with gusts to 26 knots. The pilot said that at the time of the accident, the winds were calm. On the fourth landing of a test flight, the airplane made a hard, full-stall landing and began drifting to the right. The pilot applied left rudder pedal to arrest the drift, and the airplane ground looped 180 degrees to the left. The pilot applied right rudder to stop the left swing but to no avail. The right main landing gear went off the side of the runway and down a 2-foot dropoff. The right wing tip struck the ground, breaking the wing tip and front and rear wing spars. The airplane came to rest off the side of the runway. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_CEN12CA399.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 (stall). All research papers