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Atlas / NTSB / CEN25LA153

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN25LA153

2025-04-07 Wausau, Wisconsin, United States Airport · AUW None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N1526F

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 185D

Year of manufacture

1965 · 60 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19650331

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A0D4CD

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while landing in shifting wind conditions.

Factual narrative

The pilot was landing a tailwheel-equipped airplane on runway 5 with reported strong and variable wind conditions. About 25 miles from the airport, the pilot obtained automated weather which reported the wind from 340° at 18 knots (kts) and gusting to 25 kts. When he rechecked the weather about 5 miles from the airport, the wind had shifted to 010° at 18 kts and gusting to 25 kts, so he maneuvered to land on runway 5. A few seconds before touchdown, the pilot perceived that the wind had shifted to favor runway 31. The airplane touched down, bounced, and the pilot applied power for a go-around; however, he lost rudder effectiveness and control of the airplane. Subsequently, the airplane ground looped to the left, the right main landing gear wheel separated, and the right wing contacted the ground resulting in substantial damage to the rear spar. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact 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).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Sudden wind shift-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_CEN25LA153.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 (go-around). 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 ↗