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ERA23LA278

2023-06-25 · Sanford, North Carolina, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport TTA

Current FAA registration · N108YZ

Make / Model
GOPALAN HARIHARAN 4 PLACE
Year of manufacture
2019 · 4 years old at event
Engine
AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20191211
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A024AA

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while landing in a crosswind, which resulted in a nose over.

Factual narrative

The pilot/builder of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that he had flown a few times around the airport traffic pattern and was preparing for a full stop landing. After touchdown, the airplane began to veer to the left. He applied right rudder; however, he ran out of rudder authority due to the crosswind conditions that prevailed. He applied right brake to prevent a runway excursion; however, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane’s fuselage, right wing, and vertical stabilizer were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that the accident would have been prevented if he had more crosswind handling training. 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-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_ERA23LA278.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