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Atlas / NTSB / GAA16CA155

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA16CA155

2016-03-20 Pflugerville, Texas, United States Airport · EDC None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N975MA

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA 46-350P

Year of manufacture

2010 · 6 years old at event

TCDS

A25SO · PIPER AIRCRAFT INC

Engine

LYCOMING TIO-540-AE2A (350 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20100624

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AD974C

Registrant of record

SOUTHWORTH AIRCRAFT INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing touchdown in gusty crosswind conditions, which resulted in runway excursion, and nose gear collapse.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during touch down in gusty crosswind conditions, the airplane veered off the runway to the left. He further reported when he corrected to get back onto the runway the nose gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. According to the pilot there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that during touch down in gusty crosswind conditions, the airplane veered off the runway to the left. He further reported when he corrected to get back onto the runway the nose gear collapsed.   The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.   According to the pilot there were no preimpact 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Response/compensation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2016_GAA16CA155.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 ↗