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Atlas / NTSB / ERA20CA283

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA20CA283

2020-08-06 Murray, Kentucky, United States Airport · CEY None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N312LC

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH A36

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A34F3C

Registrant of record

BENAIR LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during the simulated power off landing, and the flight instructor's delayed remedial action, which resulted in a loss of control and the airplane’s left wing striking the ground.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor and private pilot were practicing a steep spiral that would terminate with a power-off landing. The instructor stated that the pilot had added "quite a bit" of elevator nose-up trim to maintain best glide speed during the spiral maneuver. Right before touchdown, the pilot sensed the airplane had a normal than higher descent rate and increased engine power. When power was added, the airplane’s nose pitched up and the airplane rolled “violently” to the left. The airplane’s left wing struck the runway, substantially damaging it. The flight instructor then assumed control of the airplane and reduced the engine power to idle as it departed the left side of the runway. The pilot subsequently taxied the airplane to the ramp uneventfully. Both pilots reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_ERA20CA283.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 (icing, loss of control). 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 ↗