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ERA11CA271

2011-04-30 · Millbrook, New York, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 44N

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during landing and the pilot’s inadequate remedial action, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The private pilot, who was not a flight instructor, allowed the student pilot to fly the airplane from the left front seat, after the student pilot purchased the airplane. The student pilot and the private pilot departed and landed at an intermediate airport. They returned to the airplane, conducted a thorough preflight inspection and departed to their destination airport. While landing at the destination airport, the student pilot applied uneven brakes and the airplane veered to the left, striking the runway lights. The private pilot also applied brakes and informed the student pilot to "power back." The student pilot then added full power, the airplane departed the left side of the runway, and collided with a tree. The airplane sustained structural damage to the left wing. The private pilot stated there were no mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. The private pilot, who was not a flight instructor, allowed the student pilot to fly the airplane from the left front seat after the student pilot purchased the airplane. The student pilot and the private pilot departed and then landed at an intermediate airport. They returned to the airplane, conducted a thorough preflight inspection and departed to their destination airport. While landing at the destination airport, the student pilot applied uneven brakes and the airplane veered to the left, striking the runway lights. The private pilot also applied brakes and informed the student pilot to reduce the power. The student pilot then added full power and the airplane departed the left side of the runway before colliding with a tree. The airplane sustained structural damage to the left wing. The private pilot stated that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Contributed to outcome
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student pilot - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_ERA11CA271.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