FTW98LA214
1998-05-10 · SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport U42
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate compensation for winds while taxing. A factor was gusty, high wind conditions.
Factual narrative
On May 10, 1998, at 1450 mountain daylight time, a Stinson 108-1, N8178K, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during landing roll at Salt Lake City #2 Airport. The private pilot and sole occupant received minor injuries. The cross-country flight originated at Tooele, Utah, and was operating under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. According to the pilot, while en route to Salt Lake City #2 Airport, he encountered severe wind and turbulence. He attempted 2 landings at the airport, and performed a go-around each time due to turbulence. He was successful on his third attempt to land, but while taxiing to exit the runway, the aircraft encountered a gust of wind. The left wingtip struck the ground, causing the aircraft to turn 360 degrees, and come to rest on the left wing and nose. The pilot exited the aircraft, and another wind gust then caused the aircraft to nose over. According to the Salt Lake City Police Department's incident report, the aircraft sustained damage to the left main landing gear and the vertical stabilizer. Additionally, the right wing was broken at the wing brace, the nose was dented, and the propeller was bent. The report stated that, at the time of the accident, the winds were reported at 20 to 25 knots, with gusts 30 to 35 knots. While en route to Salt Lake City #2 Airport, the pilot encountered severe wind turbulence. He attempted two landings, and performed a go-around each time due to turbulence. He was successful on his third attempt to land, but while taxiing to exit the runway, the aircraft encountered a gust of wind. The left wingtip struck the ground, causing the aircraft to turn 360 degrees, and come to rest on the left wing and nose. When the pilot exited the aircraft, a wind gust overturned the aircraft. The aircraft sustained damage to the left main landing gear and the vertical stabilizer, the right wing was broken at the wing brace, the nose was dented, and the propeller was bent. At the time of the accident, the winds were reported at 20 to 25 knots, with gusts 30 to 35 knots. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1998_FTW98LA214.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.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around, turbulence). All research papers
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2019 · Journal article (IJAAA) Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airports
Abstract—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2018 · Journal article (IJAAA) Evaluating the Effect of Turbulence on Aircraft During Landing and Take-Off Phases
—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER) Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.