NTSB ERA21LA145 — 2021-02-27 · Englewood, Florida, United States

Current FAA registration · N2614

Make / Model: ZENITH ZODIAC CH 601 HD
Year of manufacture: 2017 · 4 years old at event
Engine: ROTAX 912ULS SERIES (100 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20171029
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A28598

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N2614 GEORGE MATTHEW WAGONER ZENITH 601 HD None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate compensation for gusty wind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing. The rough terrain of the runway also contributed to the outcome.

Factual narrative

The pilot was approaching the runway for landing and said that the airplane suddenly encountered a high sink rate due to “wind shear.” The pilot tried to add engine power to compensate, but the airplane landed on the main landing gear and bounced. Once the airplane settled back onto the turf runway, the nosewheel struck a hole in the ground, which he believed was a gopher tortoise burrow. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the underside of the airplane’s fuselage was substantially damaged. A weather reporting station at an airport 6 nautical miles from the accident location reported that a right quartering headwind at 10 knots, gusting to 18 knots, existed about the time of the accident. 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
— Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Response/compensation
— Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Rough terrain-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA145.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 (wind shear). All research papers