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Atlas / NTSB / FTW93LA258

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW93LA258

1993-09-09 WATKINS, Colorado, United States Airport · FTG None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER COMPENSATION FOR SHIFTING WINDS.

Factual narrative

On September 9, 1993, at approximately 1435 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 180, N4719B, sustained substantial damage during the takeoff roll when it encountered variable crosswinds near Watkins, Colorado. The private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local personal flight. The Pilot/Operator report prepared by the pilot stated that the winds were 020 degrees to 040 degrees off runway 08 at 14 knots gusting to 17 knots. The pilot further stated that the wind shifted to 360 degrees after the tail was off the runway. He was not able to maintain control of the airplane and it came to rest inverted on the edge of the runway. Damage occurred to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, wings, and propeller. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE WINDS DURING THE INITIAL GROUND ROLL WERE 020 DEGREES TO 040 DEGREES OFF RUNWAY 08 AT 14 KNOTS GUSTING TO 17 KNOTS. HE FURTHER STATED THAT THE WINDS SHIFTED TO 360 DEGREES AT THE TIME THE TAIL CAME OFF THE RUNWAY AND HE WAS NOT ABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL. THE AIRPLANE CAME TO REST INVERTED AT THE EDGE OF THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1993_FTW93LA258.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. 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 ↗