NTSB ERA22LA077 — 2021-11-23 · Orlando, Florida, United States

Current FAA registration · N81991

Make / Model: PIPER PA-32-301
Year of manufacture: 1980 · 41 years old at event
Engine: LYCOMING IO-540 SER (300 hp)
Seats / Engines: 7 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 19800409
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S AB2E78

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N81991 Piper PA-32-301 None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate compensation for winds during the landing roll.

Factual narrative

The pilot explained that he was landing with a gusting 70° left crosswind and felt the windspeed and gust spread were within his capabilities. During rollout, the wind pushed the tail to the airplane’s right, the nose to the left, and the pilot was “hesitant to give the airplane more right rudder” to maintain directional control before it departed the left side of the runway. Following the runway excursion, the nose landing gear dug into the turf surface, bent the nose gear aft, and bent the engine mount, which substantially damaged the airplane. The pilot reported there were no mechanical deficiencies 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-Crosswind-Ability to respond/compensate
— Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA22LA077.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