NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA02LA114
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions. Contributing factors were a 30 degree crosswind and the pilot's lack of experience in the newly acquired make/model aircraft.
Factual narrative
On June 28, 2002, approximately 1630 mountain daylight time, a Hunter Comp Air 6 homebuilt aircraft, N6008N, registered to the builder, and being flown by a private pilot, sustained substantial damage during a loss of control and subsequent nose over on landing at the McCall airport, McCall, Idaho. The pilot, who was the only occupant, sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The ferry flight was operated under 14 CFR 91 and had departed Tarkio, Montana, approximately 1500. The pilot reported that while landing on runway 16 at McCall he touched down on the runway pavement and then ground looped the aircraft. He reported the windsock as being extended more than 45 degrees (from the pole) and showing a 30-35 degree crosswind. An inspector assigned to the Federal Aviation Administration's Boise Flight Standards District Office witnessed the accident and reported that the aircraft touched down on the right wheel and bounced followed by the left wheel and tail wheel at which time it left the runway and nosed over. The inspector examined the aircraft's flight controls and brakes and found no evidence of any mechanical malfunction. The aviation surface observation taken at McCall at 1650 MDT reported winds of 190 degrees magnetic at 10 knots (30 degree right crosswind). The pilot had just purchased the aircraft and reported a total of about 3 hours time in the make/model. The pilot of the recently purchased Hunter Comp Air 6 aircraft was landing on runway 16 at the McCall airport. Upon touchdown he bounced and then departed the runway nosing over. An FAA inspector, who witnessed the accident, examined the aircraft and found no mechanical malfunction with the aircraft's flight controls or brakes. Winds were reported as a 30 degree right crosswind at 10 knots and the pilot had about 3 hours total time in the make/model of the accident aircraft. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_SEA02LA114.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 or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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