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Atlas / NTSB / GAA19CA106

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA19CA106

2018-12-30 Caldwell, New Jersey, United States Airport · CDW None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2651R

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172R

Year of manufacture

1998 · 20 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19981118

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A2941B

Registrant of record

ATLS AVIATION LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll.

Factual narrative

The chief pilot of the flight school reported that, after the student pilot had performed two landings with the flight instructor, the flight instructor exited the airplane, and the student performed a solo flight around the pattern. After the full stop landing, the student added full power for another takeoff, but the airplane veered left. The student added rudder inputs to correct, but the airplane exited the runway, struck a berm, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The chief pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The chief pilot of the flight school reported that, after the student pilot had performed two landings with the flight instructor, the instructor exited the airplane, and the student performed a solo flight around the traffic pattern. After a full-stop landing, the student added full power for another takeoff, but the airplane veered left. The student added rudder inputs to correct, but the airplane exited the runway, struck a berm, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The chief pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane 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-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Sloped/uneven terrain-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2018_GAA19CA106.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. 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 ↗