NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA21LA240
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to attain a proper touchdown point, which resulted in the airplane contacting the ground short of the runway.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, as he descended below a tree line on final approach to land, the airplane’s descent rate rapidly increased. He attempted to stop the descent by adding power and pitching up, but the airplane contacted the ground about 10 ft before the runway’s edge, on rough, slightly rising terrain. The left main landing gear wheel collided with the ground and separated from the gear strut. The airplane nosed down and continued across the ground before coming to rest in an upright position, partially resting on the left wing. The airplane’s left wing and fuselage were substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_ERA21LA240.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Quantum Machine Learning for UAV Swarm Intrusion Detection
Intrusion detection in unmanned-aerial-vehicle (UAV) swarms is complicated by high mobility, non-stationary traffic, and severe class imbalance.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Automatic Control With Human-Like Reasoning: Exploring Language Model Embodied Air Traffic Agents
Recent developments in language models have created new opportunities in air traffic control studies. The current focus is primarily on text and language-based use cases.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Mechanisms of de-icing by surface Rayleigh and plate Lamb acoustic waves
Acoustic waves (AW) have recently emerged as an energy-efficient ice removal procedure compatible with functional and industrial-relevant substrates.
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
Investigating the Causes and Consequences of Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck
INTRODUCTION: Long and irregular working hours can lead to fatigue in aviation operations. In some regions, a short nap taken on the flight deck (known as controlled rest) can be used as a countermeas…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
The Impact of Controlled Rest on Neurobehavioral Outcomes at Top-of-Descent
INTRODUCTION: Long and irregular working hours can lead to fatigue in aviation operations. In some regions, a short nap taken on the flight deck (known as controlled rest) can be used as a countermeas…
- NASA NTRS 2023 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Safety Case for Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations at NASA Langley Research Center
This Technical Memorandum (TM) is written to provide for dissemination of the methods and safety considerations for operations of small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLO…
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