NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA13CA223
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 ↗.
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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.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2019 · Accident report
Embraer ERJ 175 Runway Excursion at Charlotte Douglas
Republic Airline ERJ-175 runway excursion CLT, January 2018. Examines a low-energy runway excursion involving misuse of autobrakes + thrust reverser response after a high-crosswind landing on a contam…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Runway Safety Initiative Final Report (RSI)
Foundation Runway Safety Initiative final report — comprehensive analysis of runway excursion + incursion risk drivers worldwide.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article
Towards online prediction of safety-critical landing metrics in aviation using supervised machine learning
Abstract In recent years, due to the increased availability of data and improvements in computing power, application of machine learning techniques to various aviation safety problems for identifying,…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗