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ERA21LA017

2020-10-11 · Palmetto, Florida, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 48X

Current FAA registration · N8698H

Make / Model
NORTH AMERICAN NAVION
Year of manufacture
1947 · 73 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR E225 SERIES (225 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19550812
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ABF3BE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during takeoff in gusting crosswind conditions, which led to a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The commercial pilot was attempting to depart from a turf runway in gusting, left-quartering headwind conditions. He applied full power and was utilizing a soft-field takeoff technique. As the airplane began to lift off, it encountered a “large wind gust” from the left and departed the runway to the right. The pilot’s remedial actions had “no effect,” and the airplane impacted a row of hangars that ran parallel to the runway. The airplane was destroyed by impact damage and a postcrash fire. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have prevented normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Airport structure-Effect on operation
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_ERA21LA017.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers