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Atlas / NTSB / ERA11CA259

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA11CA259

2011-04-23 Lake Wales, Florida, United States Airport · X25 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated that during the landing roll, a gust of wind impacted the airplane, which turned to the left and departed the left side of the 50-feet-wide, turf runway. After the pilot regained control, he attempted to avoid a ditch by imputing right rudder. The left main landing gear impacted the ditch resulting in substantial damage to the left wing spar. The pilot reported there were no preexisting mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The pilot stated that during the landing roll the airplane encountered a gust of wind and veered off the left side of the turf runway. After the pilot regained control, he attempted to avoid a ditch by applying right rudder. He was unsuccessful in correcting the airplane's alignment and the left main landing gear impacted the ditch, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing spar. The pilot reported there were no preexisting mechanical anomalies with the airplane. 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).

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_ERA11CA259.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.