CEN20CA112
2020-03-03 · Madison, Indiana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport IMS
N5815E has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DJI AGRAS T100), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The flight instructor's failure to maintain directional control during landing in gusting crosswind conditions, which resulted in a runway excursion and nose-over.
Factual narrative
According to the flight instructor, during the third approach, he took the controls and informed the student that he would land the airplane. The airplane was configured with "minimal flaps" due to the gusting crosswind conditions. The instructor reported that during landing, the wind shifted from a quartering headwind, to a direct crosswind. The airplane bounced on touchdown and subsequently exited the right side of the runway. It entered the soft mud surface and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing lift strut. The METAR at the accident airport reported that about the time of the accident, the wind was from 260° at 17 knots and gusting to 25 knots. The airplane landed on runway 21. According to the flight instructor, during the third approach, he took the controls from the student pilot and informed the student that he would land the airplane. The airplane was configured with "minimal flaps" due to gusting crosswind conditions. During landing, the wind shifted from a quartering headwind to a direct crosswind. The airplane bounced on touchdown and subsequently exited the right side of the runway, entered soft mud, and then nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left-wing lift strut. The instructor stated that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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-Instructor/check pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation - C
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on operation - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2020_CEN20CA112.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
- NASA NTRS 2023 · Reprint (Version printed in journal) Finite Element Simulation of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests for Cessna 172 Aircraft
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- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM) Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- 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.