NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN14CA499
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The student pilot did not maintain proper airspeed during the simulated emergency landing and failed to relinquish control to the flight instructor when the flight instructor attempted to intervene, which resulted in the loss of control. Contributing was the flight instructor's failure to properly monitor the student pilot, and the poor communication between the flight instructor and student pilot.
Factual narrative
The flight instructor reported that the student pilot made a normal takeoff from a turf runway. While the student pilot was flying the departure leg, the flight instructor initiated a simulated engine failure. During the student pilot's approach, the flight instructor noticed the airspeed deteriorate. The flight instructor stated that when he attempted to assume control of the airplane, the student pilot did not release the controls. A sink rate developed and the airplane struck a power line prior to the runway. During ground impact, both wings and fuselage were substantially damaged. The student pilot did not recall the accident sequence of events due to his injuries. The flight instructor reported that the student pilot made a normal takeoff from a turf runway. While the student pilot was flying the departure leg, the flight instructor initiated a simulated engine failure. During the student pilot's approach, the flight instructor noticed the airspeed deteriorate. The flight instructor stated that when he attempted to assume control of the airplane, the student pilot did not release the controls. A sink rate developed and the airplane struck a power line prior to the runway. During ground impact, both wings and fuselage were substantially damaged. The student pilot did not recall the accident sequence of events due to his injuries. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Instructor/check pilot - C
- F Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot - F
- F Personnel issues-Task performance-Communication (personnel)-Lack of communication-Instructor/check pilot - F
- F Personnel issues-Task performance-Communication (personnel)-Lack of communication-Student/instructed pilot - F
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2014_CEN14CA499.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control, engine failure). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Multi-level Adaptation for Automatic Landing with Engine Failure under Turbulent Weather
This paper addresses efficient feasibility evaluation of possible emergency landing sites, online navigation, and path following for automatic landing under engine-out failure subject to turbulent wea…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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