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Atlas / NTSB / GAA19CA113

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA19CA113

2019-01-29 Reno, Nevada, United States Airport · MEV None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N670CS

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172S

Year of manufacture

2002 · 17 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO-360-L2A (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20020606

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A8DBFB

Registrant of record

FLYING START AERO SERVICES LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control during a rejected takeoff, which resulted in a runway excursion and impact with a ditch.

Factual narrative

The solo student pilot reported that, during the takeoff roll, about 65 knots, he applied aft pressure on the control yoke, the airplane started to shake. The airplane continued to shake as he applied more aft pressure, so he rejected the takeoff. As he reduced power and released the pressure on the control yoke, the airplane veered right but he overcorrected and the airplane veered left, right, then again left. The airplane exited the runway and impacted a ditch. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The student reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The solo student pilot reported that, during the takeoff roll, about 65 knots, he applied aft pressure on the control yoke, and the airplane started to shake. The airplane continued to shake as he applied more aft pressure, so he rejected the takeoff. As he reduced power and released the pressure on the control yoke, the airplane veered right, but he overcorrected, and the airplane veered left, right, and then left again. The airplane exited the runway and impacted a ditch. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The student 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
  • C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Sloped/uneven terrain-Effect on operation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2019_GAA19CA113.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 ↗