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Atlas / NTSB / FTW03LA139

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW03LA139

2003-04-22 Canton, Texas, United States Airport · 1TA7 Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing flare/touchdown. A contributing factor was the soft terrain.

Factual narrative

On April 22, 2003, approximately 2020 central daylight time, a Hackney Vans RV-6A experimental homebuilt airplane, N528DH, experienced a loss of control while landing at a private hard surface airstrip near Canton, Texas. The airplane was owned by a private individual and flown by the pilot under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The commercial pilot, sole occupant, received minor injuries, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight, and a flight plan was not filed. The cross-country flight originated from Anadarko Municipal Airport (F68), Anadarko, Oklahoma, approximately 1835. On the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2), the 5,000 hour pilot reported that during the landing flare/touchdown on runway 14, the airplane drifted to the left of the 2,600 foot long runway. The airplane drifted into the grass and soft terrain, the nose landing gear dug into the soft ground about 1,000 feet past the touchdown point and the airplane nosed over, coming to rest in the inverted position. Local authorities, airport personnel, and the pilot examined the airplane. The airplane fuselage canopy, vertical stabilizer, rudder, and propeller were found damaged. The U. S. Naval Observatory reported sunset at 1959, and the end of civil twilight at 2025. During the landing flare/touchdown at dusk, the airplane drifted to the left of the private, hard-surface, 2,600-foot runway. The airplane landed in the grass and soft terrain, the nose landing gear dug into the soft ground, and the airplane nosed-over, coming to rest inverted. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2003_FTW03LA139.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗