NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA19CA049
Registry · N21ZA
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH CTLS
Year of manufacture
2011 · 7 years old at event
Engine
ROTAX 912ULS SERIES (100 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20110817
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A1B969
Registrant of record
RAS AVIATION LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during landing in variable gusting crosswind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing and runway excursion.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during landing, the airplane encountered a gusting crosswind from the right. The airplane was configured with 0° flaps, and his airspeed was about 55 knots when the airplane was 5ft AGL. He reported that the airplane's airspeed was too slow for the gusting right crosswind conditions, and the airplane landed hard on the runway. The right main landing gear wheel separated from the airplane during the landing, and the airplane exited the runway to the right. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right main landing gear attachment points and the cabin's monocoque structure. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The METAR at the airport reported that about the time of the accident, the wind was from 140° at 11 knots, and gusting to 19 knots. The pilot reported that, during landing, the airplane encountered a gusting crosswind from the right. The airplane was configured with 0° flaps, and the airspeed was about 55 knots, and the airplane was about 5 ft above ground level. The airplane's airspeed was too slow for the gusting right crosswind conditions, and the airplane landed hard on the runway. The right main landing gear wheel separated from the airplane during the landing, and the airplane exited the runway to the right. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right main landing gear attachment points and the cabin's monocoque structure. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The METAR at the airport reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 140° at 11 knots, gusting to 19 knots. 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-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Variable wind-Effect on operation - C
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation - C
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on operation - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2018_GAA19CA049.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
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.
- NASA NTRS 2022 · Contractor or Grantee Report
Phase II and III Solid Waste Management Unit Assessment and Confirmatory Sampling Report for Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances, Potential Release Location 237, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Phase II and III Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Assessment (SA) and Confirmatory Sampling (CS) were conducted at the John F.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗