GAA15CA011
2015-03-16 · Boulder, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport KBDU
Current FAA registration · N4785F
- Make / Model
- PIPER PA-18-150
- Year of manufacture
- 1962 · 53 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 2 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19760317
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A5E1DF
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's loss of directional control during a bounced landing, which resulted in a runway excursion.
Factual narrative
While conducting a flight to practice landings in a tailwheel equipped airplane, the pilot made an approach to the runway. During the landing, the airplane touched down on the runway and bounced. The pilot attempted to regain control of the airplane as it touched down several times. The airplane exited the right side of the runway onto the grass and the left wing struck an embankment. A postaccident examination revealed the airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and aileron. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. While conducting a flight to practice landings in a tailwheel equipped airplane, the pilot made an approach to the runway. During the landing, the airplane touched down on the runway and bounced. The pilot attempted to regain control of the airplane as it touched down several times. The airplane exited the right side of the runway onto the grass and the left wing struck an embankment. A postaccident examination revealed the airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and aileron. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Incorrect use/operation - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2015_GAA15CA011.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 (runway excursion). All research papers
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2019 · Accident report Embraer ERJ 175 Runway Excursion at Charlotte Douglas
Republic Airline ERJ-175 runway excursion CLT, January 2018. Examines a low-energy runway excursion involving misuse of autobrakes + thrust reverser response after a high-crosswind landing on a contam…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World Runway Safety Initiative Final Report (RSI)
Foundation Runway Safety Initiative final report — comprehensive analysis of runway excursion + incursion risk drivers worldwide.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article Towards online prediction of safety-critical landing metrics in aviation using supervised machine learning
Abstract In recent years, due to the increased availability of data and improvements in computing power, application of machine learning techniques to various aviation safety problems for identifying,…