Event CEN14LA471

Factual narrative

On September 1, 2014, about 0830 mountain daylight time, an amateur-built RV-6A airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground following a loss of control during a landing approach to runway 8 at the Las Cruces International Airport, Las Cruces, New Mexico. The pilot received serious injuries and the pilot rated passenger received minor injuries. The airplane received substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The aircraft was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The local flight originated about 0730. The pilot reported that he and another pilot had performed a series of touch and go landings using runway 26. They then continued making touch and go landings using the other runways at the airport. The last takeoff prior to the accident was made from runway 22. They then entered a left downwind for runway 8, and then turned from the downwind to the base leg. The pilot stated that the base to final turn started to get steep as to not "overrun the runway" and the nose attitude was slightly high. When the airplane was about halfway through the base to final turn, the pilot felt that the airplane was slow and they needed to get the nose down. About that time he felt the pre-stall "burble" and he immediately knew that the airplane bank was too steep and the airspeed was too slow. He immediately pushed forward on the controls as the stall/spin began. He was able to recovery to a wings level, nose low attitude before the airplane impacted the ground short of the runway. In his report he stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions of the airplane. The pilot reported that he and another pilot had conducted a series of touch-and-go landings. He added that, after takeoff for the accident touch-and-go landing and during the base-to-final turn in the airport traffic pattern, the airplane's bank angle was too steep, its nose attitude was too high, and its airspeed was low. The airplane then entered a stall/spin. The pilot was able to recover to a wings-level, nose-low attitude before the airplane impacted the ground short of the runway. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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-Angle of attack-Capability exceeded - C
• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C