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Atlas / NTSB / CEN23LA104

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN23LA104

2023-02-08 Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States Airport · UES None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N426SJ

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CIRRUS DESIGN SF50

Year of manufacture

2019 · 4 years old at event

Engine

WILLIAMS FJ33-5A

Seats / Engines

7 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20190926

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A51382

Registrant of record

MAG AVIATION LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain aircraft control during landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection removal of the angle of attack vane cover.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during takeoff, he heard a noise that sounded like “gravel hitting the gear,” which continued after landing gear retraction, and prompted a return to the departure airport for a precautionary landing. He stated that while on the downwind leg, the stall warning aural alert sounded, and the stick shaker activated; the pilot used the autopilot disconnect button to regain control of the airplane. During touchdown, the airplane bounced and exited the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the lower forward fuselage. Following the accident, the pilot discovered that he had failed to remove the angle of attack vane cover. The pilot reported 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

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_CEN23LA104.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 (stall, autopilot). 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 ↗