Skip to content

ERA12CA266

2012-04-02 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PHL

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control while landing in gusting crosswind conditions.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated he was cleared to land on runway 26. He estimated the winds were “varying from the west to the north at 10 to 14 knots”. The surface winds at the airport were 330 degrees at 18 knots gusting to 23 knots near the time of the accident. He landed on the left main gear with the right main intermittently touching the ground. He attempted to lower the right wing to improve wheel to runway contact. Due to a wind gust, he was unsuccessful. He felt the left main gear became “mushy” and he was braking to avoid an overrun, when the airplane swerved off the left of the runway onto the soft grass area. The airplane’s main landing gear collapsed and both wing’s outer structure incurred substantial damage before coming to a complete stop. The pilot reported no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. The pilot was cleared to land on runway 26. The recorded surface wind at the airport around the time of the accident was from 330 to 340 degrees at 14 to 18 knots, gusting to 25 knots; a peak wind gust from 350 degrees at 26 knots was recorded about 7 minutes after the accident. The pilot said that he landed on the left main gear with the right main intermittently touching the ground and tried to lower the right wing to improve wheel-to-runway contact but was unsuccessful because of a wind gust. The airplane swerved off the left side of the runway onto the soft grass area, where the airplane’s main landing gear collapsed, and both wings were substantially damaged. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-(general)-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_ERA12CA266.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.