NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA98LA134
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot-in-command's failure to maintain directional control. Factors contributing were the pilot-in-command's lack of experience in make of aircraft (i.e., use of toe brakes) and the fence post.
Factual narrative
On July 13, 1998, approximately 1149 Pacific daylight time, a homebuilt Cygnet SF-2A, N191LM, registered to (as co-owner) and being flown by a private pilot, sustained substantial damage during a loss of control on landing rollout at the Chehalem Airpark, Newberg, Oregon. The pilot sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions existed and no flight plan had been filed. The flight, which was personal, was to have been operated under 14CFR91, and originated at the accident airport approximately 1110. The pilot reported to the investigator-in-charge that the accident flight was her first solo in the toe-brake equipped, tail-wheel Cygnet SF-2A, and that she had logged more than 100 hours pilot-in-command time in the heel-brake equipped tail-wheel Citabria she co-owned. She had no other toe-brake experience other than that in the SF-2A aircraft. Winds at McMinnville Municipal airport 8 nautical miles south were recorded at 11553 hours as 4 knots from 350 degrees magnetic. The pilot also reported in her written statement that upon touchdown on the centerline of runway 25 at the Chehalem Airpark she "began applying brakes/rudder" and that the "plane went to (the) left slightly." She then "applied right rudder (and) the plane continued to go hard right dispite (sic) hard application of left rudder and brake." She then "applied throttle in an attempt to correct" and impacted a fence post approximately 50 feet north of the runway center line before coming to rest. Following touchdown on the runway center line, the homebuilt tail-wheel equipped Cygnet SF-2A drifted left and the pilot-in-command applied right rudder to correct. The aircraft then veered to the right and, in spite of hard left brake and rudder application, departed the north edge of the runway, impacting a fence post. The accident flight was the pilot-in-command's first solo in the toe-brake equipped aircraft. She did possess approximately 100 hours in the tail-wheel equipped Citabria. This aircraft, however, was equipped with heel-brakes, rather than toe-brakes. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1998_SEA98LA134.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
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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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