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Atlas / NTSB / GAA15CA249

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA15CA249

2015-08-20 Tucson, Arizona, United States Airport · TUS None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N944LB

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

STINSON L-5E

Engine

LYCOMING 0-435A/0-435C (190 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19570403

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AD1D00

Registrant of record

DAVIS WESLEY B

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll, resulting in a runway excursion and a collision with an object.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the landing roll, the airplane "went into a ground loop with the nose of the aircraft pointing to the right." He stated that the airplane departed the runway to the right and impacted a runway sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that during the landing roll, the airplane "went into a ground loop with the nose of the aircraft pointing to the right." He stated that the airplane departed the runway to the right and impacted a runway sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or 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
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Sign/marker-Effect on equipment

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2015_GAA15CA249.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 (runway excursion). 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 ↗