NTSB CEN25LA264 — 2025-07-20 · Pipestone, Minnesota, United States

Current FAA registration · N6557Q

Make / Model: ALON A2
Year of manufacture: 1965 · 60 years old at event
Engine: CONT MOTOR C90 SERIES (95 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 19651001
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A8A2A9

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N6557Q ALON A2 None

Probable cause & findings

The failure of the left brake to release due to corrosion and pitting of the caliper piston and bore, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that when the wheels touched down during landing the airplane pulled hard to the left and departed the runway despite his control inputs to correct the airplane’s direction of travel. The airplane nose landing gear collapsed during the runway excursion and the airplane came to rest inverted in the adjacent cornfield. The wings and empennage sustained substantial damage. After the accident a bystander attempted to turn the left wheel of the airplane and told the pilot he could barely move it. Later when the pilot tried to move the left wheel it turned freely. A post-accident examination of the airplane showed that the brake caliper pistons and piston bores for both main landing gear were corroded and pitted. It is likely the left brake caliper failed to release after being used during the landing due to the corroded brake components. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Master cylinder/brake valve-Fatigue/wear/corrosion

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_CEN25LA264.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers