NTSB CEN12LA304 — 2012-05-14 · El Dorado, Kansas, United States

Current FAA registration · N68543

Make / Model: BELLANCA 7GCAA
Year of manufacture: 1972 · 40 years old at event
Engine: LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 19720901
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A918CA

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N68543 Bellanca 7GCAA None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's loss of directional control during landing, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

On May 14, 2012, about 1630 central daylight time, a Bellanca 7GCAA, N68543, went off the right side of runway 15 and impacted a ditch at Captain Jack Thomas Airport (KEQA), El Dorado, Kansas. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Benton (K1K1), Kansas, about 1545. The pilot said he was making a full-stall landing to the south with an east to west wind. Upon touchdown, he lost directional control and the airplane went off the right side of the runway and into a deep ditch. The right main landing gear separated from the airframe, and the right wing was damaged when it struck the embankment. The pilot reported no mechanical discrepancies with the airplane prior to the accident. His recommendation for preventing this accident was for him to receive additional training in the airplane and acquire more proficiency. Although he indicated he had logged 1,900 total hours and 600 hours in single-engine airplanes, he had only 1 hour in the Bellanca 7GCAA. An examination of the airplane and related systems revealed no anomalies. The pilot reported that he made a full-stall landing on the runway with a left crosswind and lost directional control after landing. The airplane departed the right side of the runway and impacted a deep ditch. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_CEN12LA304.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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