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ERA21LA136

2021-02-24 · North Hampton, New Hampshire, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 7B3

Current FAA registration · N642LT

Make / Model
VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV-6
Year of manufacture
2019 · 2 years old at event
Engine
MATTITUCK TMX IO-360 (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20190712
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A86DB5

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing in a crosswind condition, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, the approach to the runway was very stable. He performed a wheel landing in the tailwheel equipped airplane and touched down on runway 20 just past the numbers on the centerline. Before the tailwheel settled onto the runway, a gust of wind struck the airplane. The pilot corrected the airplane, but another “stronger” gust struck the airplane again resulting in the airplane veering off the right side of the runway. The airplane impacted the snow in the grass area between the runway and taxiway and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The winds reported at an airport 7 miles to the north of the accident location were from 240° at 9 knots. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA136.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