NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA19CA305
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain the runway centerline during landing, which resulted in the airplane landing with the left wheel off the runway, an impact with trees, and a nose-over.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during landing on a gravel runway, he noticed that he "floated slightly off of the center of the runway to the west". He touched down with the left wheel off the runway in some vegetation, and the airplane nosed over. Postaccident examination revealed that there were alder branches wrapped around the left main landing gear and the landing gear locked up. The pilot removed the branches and the landing gear moved "fine." The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing lift strut and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that the wind was from 090° and light and variable. The pilot landed the airplane on runway 33. The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during landing on a gravel runway, he noticed that the airplane "floated slightly off of the center of the runway to the west." The airplane touched down with the left wheel off the runway in some vegetation, and the airplane nosed over. Postaccident examination revealed that there were alder branches wrapped around the left main landing gear and that the landing gear was locked up. The pilot said he removed the branches, and the landing gear moved "fine." The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing lift strut and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that the wind was from 090° and light and variable. The pilot landed the airplane on runway 33. 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-Heading/course-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Effect on operation
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2019_GAA19CA305.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. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
NMPC-based Unified Posture Manipulation and Thrust Vectoring for Fault Recovery
Multi-rotors face significant risks, as actuator failures at high altitudes can easily result in a crash and the robot's destruction.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Threshold Assessment of Gear Diagnostic Tools on Flight and Test Rig Data
A method for defining thresholds for vibration-based algorithms that provides the minimum number of false alarms while maintaining sensitivity to gear damage was developed.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Investigation of Spiral Bevel Gear Condition Indicator Validation via AC-29-2C Combining Test Rig Damage Progression Data with Fielded Rotorcraft Data
This is the final of three reports published on the results of this project. In the first report, results were presented on nineteen tests performed in the NASA Glenn Spiral Bevel Gear Fatigue Test Ri…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
An Evaluation of an Analytical Simulation of an Airplane with Tailplane Icing by Comparison to Flight Data
This report presents the assessment of an analytical tool developed as part of the NASA/FAA Tailplane Icing Program. The analytical tool is a specialized simulation program called TAILSM4 which was de…
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