NTSB ERA11CA313 — 2011-05-20 · Greenville, Kentucky, United States

Aircraft involved

N68844 Cessna 150M None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's loss of control during takeoff after he reached to secure a seatbelt that was wedged in the passenger door.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during takeoff after becoming airborne, he saw that the passenger seatbelt was wedged in the right side door and dangling outside the airplane. As he reached to open the door to move the seatbelt inside the cabin, the airplane impacted the runway resulting in substantial damage to the tail section. The pilot reported that during takeoff, he observed the passenger seatbelt wedged in the right side door and dangling outside the airplane. As he reached to open the door to move the seatbelt inside the cabin, the airplane impacted the runway resulting in substantial damage to the tail section. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Unneccessary action-Pilot - C
C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_ERA11CA313.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). All research papers