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ERA21LA012

2020-10-03 · Spruce Pines, North Carolina, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 7A8

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to familiarize himself with the wind conditions at the destination airport and his failure to attain the proper touchdown point during landing, which resulted in a long, tailwind landing and subsequent runway overrun.

Factual narrative

Before attempting to land on the 3,001-ft-long, asphalt runway, the pilot had been advised by personnel at the destination airport that landing toward the upsloping direction of the runway was preferred. The pilot did not check the wind direction prior to landing, and during the landing flare, the airplane did not slow down or descend. The pilot added full flaps, but the airplane continued to float and touched down with about 200 ft of remaining runway. Subsequently, the airplane overran the runway end, proceeded through the airport perimeter fence, traveled down an embankment, and came to rest on a road. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. Following the accident, the pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and stated that he believed that a tailwind was likely present during the landing attempt. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Awareness of condition

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_ERA21LA012.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type. All research papers