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Atlas / NTSB / CEN21LA159

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN21LA159

2021-03-17 Erie, Colorado, United States Airport · EIK None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2849M

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-12

Year of manufacture

1947 · 74 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19750106

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A2E076

Registrant of record

49 MIKE PARTNERSHIP

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during a full-stop landing, resulting in a runway excursion and impact with a snow berm.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that while making a full-stop landing following a local flight in his tailwheel-equipped airplane and slowing on the runway centerline, the airplane began drifting to the left toward a snow berm on the edge of the runway. The pilot added power as the left main landing gear tire contacted the snow. The airplane slid into the berm and came to rest in about 8-12 inches of snow. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left elevator. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions 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).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Snow/ice-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_CEN21LA159.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 (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 ↗