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ERA21LA167

2021-03-31 · Vienna, Georgia, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport N/A

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s improper decision to attempt a takeoff with a quartering tailwind and his failure to reject the takeoff in a timely manner, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was taking off from his private airstrip with a left quartering tailwind for an aerial application flight. Due to payload and wind conditions, flying airspeed was not attained prior to his anticipated liftoff point. The nose of the airplane began to veer to the left, and he attempted to correct the drift. He passed his decision point and attempted to avoid a ditch in his path. The airplane impacted the northern bank of the ditch, shearing off the landing gear and damaging the propeller and spray system. After the airplane came to rest, the pilot egressed and a postaccident fire destroyed the wreckage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Contributed to outcome
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA167.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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