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CEN12CA423

2012-07-02 · Manvel, North Dakota, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The non-certificated pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from a wheat field.

Factual narrative

The non-certificated pilot said that he had been flying his unregistered aircraft too low over a wheat field. He encountered a "thermal" and his nose wheel "caught" in the wheat, causing the aircraft to nose over and impact terrain. There was substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage structure. The wind conditions about eight minutes after the of accident occurred were reported 320 degrees at 6 knots. The non-certificated pilot said that he had been flying his unregistered aircraft too low over a wheat field. He stated that he encountered a "thermal" and that the aircraft’s nosewheel caught in the wheat, causing the airplane to nose over and impact the ground. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage structure. About 8 minutes after the accident occurred, the wind was reported as being from 320 degrees at 6 knots. 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
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-(general)-(general)-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_CEN12CA423.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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