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Atlas / NTSB / FTW94LA286

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW94LA286

1994-09-01 MESQUITE, Texas, United States Airport · HQZ None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N66322

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 150M

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-200 SERIES (100 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19740813

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A8C217

Registrant of record

BETKER JOSHUA ALEXANDER

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE UNFAVORABLE GUSTING WINDS. A FACTOR WAS THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL.

Factual narrative

On September 1, 1994, at 1916 central daylight time, a Cessna 150M, N66322, was substantially damaged when it nosed over during landing at Mesquite, Texas. The solo student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The following is based on the pilot/operator report. The pilot was practicing touch and go landings when he observed a storm approaching from the south. He decided to make his next approach to a full stop. He described his final approach as "normal until the wind shifted suddenly" and "the plane reacted violently to the turbulence." The pilot said he was able to land but "the wind blew me off the runway" and the airplane nosed over. He said a flight instructor/witness had told him the "wind had changed suddenly while he was on final approach, and it appeared he had encountered wind shear." The abrupt weather changes were not forecasted. DURING A SERIES OF TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS THE STUDENT PILOT OBSERVED A STORM APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTH SO HE ELECTED TO MAKE THE NEXT APPROACH TO A FULL STOP. DURING FINAL APPROACH THE STUDENT PILOT HAD TROUBLE MAINTAINING CONTROL WHEN THE WIND 'SUDDENLY SHIFTED AND THE AIRPLANE REACTED VIOLENTLY TO THE TURBULENCE.' THE PILOT WAS ABLE TO LAND BUT THE AIRPLANE DEPARTED THE RUNWAY AND NOSED OVER. AN INSTRUCTOR PILOT/WITNESS CONFIRMED THE SUDDEN SHIFT IN THE WIND. THE APPROACHING STORM AND CHANGE IN WIND CONDITIONS WERE UNFORCASTED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1994_FTW94LA286.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 (icing, wind shear, turbulence). 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 ↗