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Atlas / NTSB / ERA13CA223

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA13CA223

2013-03-30 Daytona Beach, Florida, United States Airport · 7FL6 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N35252

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER J3L-65

Year of manufacture

1941 · 72 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR C90 SERIES (95 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19971029

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A3EF5D

Registrant of record

MANSFIELD HELIFLIGHT INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during landing, resulting in a runway excursion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s improper decision to land with a tailwind.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot he was participating in a spot landing competition at the airport. After the airplane main landing gear touched down on runway 05 the airplane began to drift slightly to the right. He applied left rudder and brake to realign the airplane with the runway and to also counteract a “quartering tailwind”. He also advanced the throttle to assist in centering the airplane with the runway, but the engine “stuttered.” He retracted the throttle and continued to apply left rudder and aileron; however, the airplane departed the right side of the runway and impacted a hangar resulting in substantial damage to the right wing. Videotape taken by a spectator of the landing competition corroborates the pilot’s description of the accident. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that could have precluded normal operation. Wind reported at an airport located about 5 miles east of the accident site was from 200 degrees at 08 knots, gusting to 19 knots. According to the pilot, he was participating in a spot landing competition at the airport. After the airplane’s main landing gear touched down on runway 5, the airplane began to drift slightly to the right. He applied left rudder and brake to realign the airplane with the runway and to counteract a “quartering tailwind.” He also advanced the throttle to assist in centering the airplane with the runway, but the engine “stuttered.” He retracted the throttle and continued to apply left rudder and aileron; however, the airplane departed the right side of the runway and impacted a hangar, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing. Video taken by a spectator of the landing competition corroborates the pilot’s description of the accident. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. An airport located about 5 miles east of the accident site recorded wind from 200 degrees at 8 knots, gusting to 19 knots. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • F Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Contributed to outcome - F
  • F Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - F

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2013_ERA13CA223.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 (runway excursion). 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 ↗