NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA21FA165
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate visual lookout and failure to maintain clearance from a power line.
Factual narrative
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On March 29, 2021, about 1800 eastern daylight time, a Aviat Husky A-1, N800MH, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Cave Springs, Georgia. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was owned by the pilot, who was operating it as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to a witness in the area, the pilot was circling low over his house and waving at him. He said that after circling for about 5 minutes, the airplane departed the area. As he watched the airplane head north, it collided with a power line. The airplane pitched down abruptly and descended into a ravine, where it collided with the ground. He said the broken power line “knocked out” the power, and a brush fire started because of the power line contacting the dry brush. The witness said he rushed down the ravine to assist the pilot and contacted the local authorities.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
Assessment of the wreckage site revealed that a power line was struck above the ravine where the airplane came to rest. The power line was broken and was about 500 ft aft of the airplane wreckage. All flight control components were located at the wreckage site. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the airframe, and both wing assemblies. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
The Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia, performed an autopsy on the pilot. His cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries. Toxicology testing performed at the Federal Aviation Administration Forensic Sciences Laboratory was negative for carbon monoxide and drugs. A witness reported the pilot was circling low over his house and waving at him. The pilot circled for about 5 minutes then departed the area. As he watched the airplane head north, it collided with a power line, resulting in a loss of electrical power to nearby residences and a brush fire. The airplane pitched down abruptly and descended into a ravine where it collided with the ground about 500 ft from the location of the power line. Postaccident examination of the airplane did not reveal any anomalies 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).
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Wire-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_ERA21FA165.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. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Transonic Experimental Observations of Abrupt Wing Stall on an F/A-18E Model (Invited)
A transonic wind tunnel test of an 8% F/A-18E model was conducted in the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) 16 ft Transonic Tunnel (16-ft TT) to investigate on-surface flow physics during stall.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2022 · Faculty research project
PLD Space Suborbital Microgravity Research
This project involves the design, development, integration, testing, validation, and verification of various payloads to be flown aboard PLD Space’s MIURA-1 suborbital rocket.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Can Backward-Chained, Ab-Initio Pilot Training Decrease Time to First Solo?
Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and co…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2020 · Conference paper
Backwards Chaining – Accelerating Solo Flight Training
Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and co…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Transonic Experimental Observations of Abrupt Wing Stall on an F/A-l8E Model
A transonic wind tunnel test of an 8% F/A-18E model was conducted in the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) 16 ft Transonic Tunnel (16-ft TT) to investigate on-surface flow physics during stall.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2018 · Conference paper
Implementing Immersive Virtual Reality in an Aviation/Aerospace Teaching and Learning Paradigm
The ubiquity of computing technology has revolutionized the workplace and has also had a significant impact on education. The use of interactive simulations based on virtual reality (VR), augmented re…
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