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Atlas / NTSB / CHI94LA009

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CHI94LA009

1993-10-04 BENTON, Kansas, United States Airport · 1K1 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N801B

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

LUSCOMBE 8F

Year of manufacture

1950 · 43 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR C90 SERIES (95 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560218

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AAE5AD

Registrant of record

LIEM DANIEL L

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL AND PROPER RUNWAY ALIGNMENT DURING THE LANDING ROLL. THE PROXIMITY OF THE DITCH TO THE RUNWAY WAS A RELATED FACTOR.

Factual narrative

On October 4, 1993, at 1800 central daylight time, a Luscombe 8F, N801B, sustained substantial damage when it departed runway 16 during landing roll, hit a ditch, and nosed-over, at the Benton Airport, Benton, Kansas. The solo student pilot was not injured. No flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. The pilot reported he was practicing touch-and-go landings. During the landing roll, the airplane began to drift to the right. He said he attempted to correct the drift with left rudder, but his left heel got caught on the heel brake and the airplane departed the runway. When he attempted to get the airplane back on the runway it hit a small ditch and nosed-over. THE STUDENT PILOT WAS PRACTICING TOUCH-AND-GO LANDINGS. DURING A LANDING ROLL, THE AIRPLANE BEGAN TO DRIFT TO THE RIGHT. THE STUDENT ATTEMPTED TO CORRECT THE DRIFT WITH LEFT RUDDER, BUT GOT HIS FOOT CAUGHT ON THE HEEL BRAKE. THE AIRPLANE DEPARTED THE RUNWAY TO THE LEFT. AS THE STUDENT TRIED TO GET THE AIRPLANE BACK ON THE RUNWAY, IT STRUCK A DITCH AND NOSED-OVER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1993_CHI94LA009.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 (icing). 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 ↗