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Atlas / NTSB / GAA19CA286

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA19CA286

2019-05-25 Takotna, Alaska, United States Airport · A77 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3EH

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 180D

Year of manufacture

1961 · 58 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O 470R (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20080808

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A31B0C

Registrant of record

HOPPE NICHOLAS J

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff, which resulted in impact with vegetation.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, about the time he was rotating, the airplane veered right, the right wing contacted some brush and the airplane impacted the vegetation. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The automated weather observation station located 13 miles south/east of the airstrip, reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was variable at 5 knots. The airplane was taking off runway 31. The pilot reported that, about the time he started rotation, the airplane veered right, the right wing contacted some brush, and the airplane impacted vegetation. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The 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-Pilot - C
  • C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Effect on operation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2019_GAA19CA286.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 ↗