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Atlas / NTSB / GAA16CA348

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA16CA348

2016-01-10 Carolina, Puerto Rico, United States Airport · TJSJ None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N87SA

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH B200

Year of manufacture

1982 · 34 years old at event

Engine

P&W PT6A SER (750 hp)

Seats / Engines

11 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19950131

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ABF58E

Registrant of record

LIBERTY AIR LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to actuate the parking brake prior to leaving his seat, resulting in substantial damage.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he parked the airplane and shut down the requisite systems, then proceeded to the back of the airplane to allow the passengers to disembark and set the wheel chocks. He reported that as he began to open the cabin door, he realized that the airplane was rolling backwards. The airplane rolled into the wall of the airport terminal and the left and right elevators sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or anomalies with the airplane or any of its systems that would have prevented normal operation. According to the manufacturer's pilot operating handbook and the operator, the accident airplane was equipped with a parking brake. The operator reported that their maintenance department inspected the parking brake system after the accident, and in accordance with the Beech B200 service manual and found no failures or anomalies. The pilot reported that he parked the airplane and shut down the requisite systems, then proceeded to the back of the airplane to allow the passengers to disembark and set the wheel chocks. He reported that as he began to open the cabin door, he realized that the airplane was rolling backwards. The airplane rolled into the wall of the airport terminal and the left and right elevators sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or anomalies with the airplane or any of its systems that would have prevented normal operation. According to the manufacturer's pilot operating handbook and the operator, the accident airplane was equipped with a parking brake. The operator reported that their maintenance department inspected the parking brake system after the accident, and in accordance with the Beech B200 service manual and found no failures or anomalies. 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 systems-Landing gear system-Brake-Not used/operated - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Airport structure-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2016_GAA16CA348.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 (maintenance). 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 ↗