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Atlas / NTSB / CEN21LA403

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN21LA403

2021-09-06 Gunnison, Colorado, United States Airport · GUC None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N6XC

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

AVIAT AIRCRAFT INC A-1

Year of manufacture

1997 · 24 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-360-A1D (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19971110

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A7C49D

Registrant of record

NORTHSTAR AEROSPRAY INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control of the airplane after landing with a quartering tailwind.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he landed with a quartering tailwind. When the tailwheel touched down, the wind pushed the tail to the right and the airplane ground looped. The airplane came to rest upright off the left side of the runway and sustained substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies 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).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_CEN21LA403.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. 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 ↗