CEN14CA037
2013-11-03 · Hayden, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport HDN
N981PA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC MK30), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate compensation for the crosswind, which resulted in a loss of directional control and runway excursion.
Factual narrative
During a straight in approach to land to runway 28, the pilot flew the airplane with a side slip while maintaining runway centerline. At about ten feet above the runway a gust of wind blew the airplane right of centerline and the pilot corrected the airplane back to the runway's centerline. Upon touchdown, the pilot reported that a crosswind blew the airplane's nose to the right, the airplane touched down 10 to 20 degrees right of runway heading, and exited the right side of the runway, making contact with objects off the runway. Both wings sustained substantial damage. Winds reported on the field about the time of the accident were 250 degrees at 23 knots with gusts to 29 knots. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident that would have resulted in abnormal operation of the airplane. During a straight in approach to land to runway 28, the pilot flew the airplane with a side slip while maintaining runway centerline. At about ten feet above the runway a gust of wind blew the airplane right of centerline and the pilot corrected the airplane back to the runway's centerline. Upon touchdown, the pilot reported that a crosswind blew the airplane's nose to the right, the airplane touched down 10 to 20 degrees right of runway heading, and exited the right side of the runway, making contact with objects off the runway. Both wings sustained substantial damage. Winds reported on the field about the time of the accident were 250 degrees at 23 knots with gusts to 29 knots. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident that would have resulted in abnormal operation of the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2013_CEN14CA037.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.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2019 · Accident report Embraer ERJ 175 Runway Excursion at Charlotte Douglas
Republic Airline ERJ-175 runway excursion CLT, January 2018. Examines a low-energy runway excursion involving misuse of autobrakes + thrust reverser response after a high-crosswind landing on a contam…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World Runway Safety Initiative Final Report (RSI)
Foundation Runway Safety Initiative final report — comprehensive analysis of runway excursion + incursion risk drivers worldwide.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article Towards online prediction of safety-critical landing metrics in aviation using supervised machine learning
Abstract In recent years, due to the increased availability of data and improvements in computing power, application of machine learning techniques to various aviation safety problems for identifying,…