Skip to content

CEN21LA255

2021-06-05 · Alexandria, Minnesota, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport AXN

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot did not maintain aircraft and directional control during the landing in variable wind conditions resulting in abnormal contact with the terrain.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that while landing from his sixth Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles flight for the day, the airplane encountered a downdraft and variable wind conditions causing it to bounce several times. The pilot attempted to maintain control, but the airplane veered to the left off the runway and impacted the terrain in a nose low attitude. The airplane subsequently nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that prior to this flight, hazardous weather was in the area; however, the weather appeared to not be a factor in the area, and he thought he could complete the flight. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, 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-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Variable wind-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_CEN21LA255.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.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type. All research papers