NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA16CA366
Registry · N9185Z
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
HELIO H-295
Year of manufacture
1966 · 50 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING GO-480 SERIES (295 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20020204
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ACB782
Registrant of record
AIRBORNE TACTICAL SOLUTIONS LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll in gusty crosswind conditions, which resulted in a runway excursion and a ground loop.
Factual narrative
The pilot of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that during the landing roll, he encountered a crosswind gust from the right. Subsequently, the airplane swerved off the runway to the right and ground looped. During the ground loop, the left wing and left horizontal stabilizer impacted the ground, which resulted in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported on the National Transportation Safety Board Accident/ Incident Report Form 6120.1, the wind direction was variable at 8 to 9 knots, with gusts at 2 to 5 knots. The destination airport was not equipped with an automated weather observation system. The pilot of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that during the landing roll, he encountered a crosswind gust from the right. Subsequently, the airplane swerved off the runway to the right and ground looped. During the ground loop, the left wing and left horizontal stabilizer impacted the ground, which resulted in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported on the National Transportation Safety Board Accident/ Incident Report Form 6120.1, the wind direction was variable at 8 to 9 knots, with gusts at 2 to 5 knots. The destination airport was not equipped with an automated weather observation system. 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-Ability to respond/compensate
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Ability to respond/compensate
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_GAA16CA366.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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.
- 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,…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗