Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / GAA19CA596

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA19CA596

2019-09-11 Reno, Nevada, United States Airport · RTS None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N515JD

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

JOHN A DALESSANDRIS PITTS S1S

Year of manufacture

2016 · 3 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING HIO-360 SER (205 hp)

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20160830

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A674CE

Registrant of record

DALESSANDRIS JOHN A

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing, which resulted in a runway excursion and a ground loop.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped biplane reported that, during landing, the airplane encountered a right crosswind, veered to the right off the runway, and ground looped to the right. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower left wing and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The airport's automated weather observation station reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 150° at 4 knots. The pilot added that he believed he encountered a dust devil. The pilot was landing the airplane on runway 08. The pilot reported that, during landing, the biplane encountered a right crosswind, veered right off the runway, and ground looped. The biplane sustained substantial damage to the lower left wing and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the biplane 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
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2019_GAA19CA596.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 ↗