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Atlas / NTSB / LAX01LA260

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX01LA260

2001-07-25 San Luis Obispo, California, United States Airport · SBP None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2903N

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 140

Engine

CONT MOTOR C85 SERIES (85 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560324

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A2F848

Registrant of record

PATRICK STEVEN B

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing that resulted in dragging the wing and nosing over.

Factual narrative

On July 25, 2001, about 1447 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 140, N2903N, owned and operated by the pilot, ground looped and nosed over during landing rollout on runway 29 at McChesney Field, San Luis Obispo, California. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local area flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from the airport about 1400. The pilot reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that he made an uneventful three-point touchdown. Thereafter, the airplane veered left, and he applied rudder pressure and engine power to correct for the yawing moment. The pilot reported "it happened so fast I was unable to make effective correction with rudder pedals." Thereafter, the right wing contacted the runway and the airplane nosed over. The pilot made an uneventful three-point touchdown. Thereafter, the airplane veered left, and the pilot applied rudder pressure and engine power to correct for the yawing moment. The pilot reported that the swerve happened so fast he was unable to take effective corrective action. Airplane control was lost and it nosed over. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2001_LAX01LA260.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 ↗