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Atlas / NTSB / GAA15CA270

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA15CA270

2015-09-21 Jackpot, Nevada, United States Airport · 06U None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3354W

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-32-260

Year of manufacture

1965 · 50 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-540 SERIES (250 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19651115

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A3AB5B

Registrant of record

AROCHO DAVID

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll, which resulted in a runway excursion and a collision with a fence.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the landing roll a "dust devil hit the rear" of the airplane, "throwing it into the right lane and sliding the airplane sideways down the runway." The pilot reported that the airplane veered off the left side of the runway, over a dirt berm, and impacted a fence with the 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 airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. A witness that was at the airport reported the wind was calm all day. The pilot reported that during the landing roll a "dust devil hit the rear" of the airplane, "throwing it into the right lane and sliding the airplane sideways down the runway." The pilot reported that the airplane veered off the left side of the runway, over a dirt berm, and impacted a fence with the 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 airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.   A witness that was at the airport reported the wind was calm all day. 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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2015_GAA15CA270.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 ↗