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Atlas / NTSB / CEN14CA260

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN14CA260

2014-05-27 Wadsworth, Ohio, United States Airport · 15G None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during landing which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The instructor pilot reported the student had approximately 30 hours of prior flight time in the accident airplane. The instructor and student were practicing tail wheel landings. On the third landing, the student touched down normally. During rollout, the instructor advised the student to lower the tail to eliminate tail rudder effectiveness. At that time, the student applied brakes causing the airplane to skid off the right side of the runway. The airplane overturned and came to rest inverted approximately 4 feet of the runway edge. A post-accident examination revealed the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and vertical stabilizer. In the instructor's written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board he noted that the accident might have been prevented if he taught breaking effectiveness to lift the tail during high speed taxiing instead of during landings. The instructor pilot reported the student had approximately 30 hours of prior flight time in the accident airplane. The instructor and student were practicing tail wheel landings. On the third landing, the student touched down normally. During rollout, the instructor advised the student to lower the tail to eliminate tail rudder effectiveness. At that time, the student applied brakes causing the airplane to skid off the right side of the runway. The airplane overturned and came to rest inverted approximately 4 feet of the runway edge. A post-accident examination revealed the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and vertical stabilizer. In the instructor's written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board he noted that the accident might have been prevented if he taught breaking effectiveness to lift the tail during high speed taxiing instead of during landings. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or 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-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Surface speed/braking-Incorrect use/operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2014_CEN14CA260.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing, runway excursion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗