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Atlas / NTSB / CEN24LA250

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN24LA250

2024-07-04 Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States Airport · FYV None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N669CB

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 180J

Year of manufacture

1976 · 48 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19760610

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A8D5DC

Registrant of record

MCKINNEY ERIC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of directional control due to a muscle spasm.

Factual narrative

While on takeoff from the airport in a tailwheel-equipped airplane, the pilot reported that as he applied right rudder, a muscle spasm shot through his right calf. The spasm resulted in the pilot’s foot pressing hard on the right rudder pedal. Before the pilot could regain directional control, the airplane’s tail swung left, and the airplane steered towards the runway edge. The airplane’s left main landing gear contacted a runway taxiway light collapsing the left main landing gear and the airplane settled on the left wing and ground looped. The pilot had already pulled the throttle back during the muscle spasm and the airplane skidded to a stop. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and left horizontal stabilizer. The pilot said that he felt that his lack of proper hydration led to his muscle spasm. There were no reported mechanical malfunctions or failures that contributed to the accident. 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-Physical-(general)-(general)-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2024_CEN24LA250.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 ↗