NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR10CA390
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain aircraft control during final approach, resulting in a hard landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that after an uneventful cross country flight he returned to the airport to practice three landings. The first two landings were normal and uneventful. During final approach of the third landing the airplane encountered “wind shear,” and despite the pilot’s control inputs, the airplane entered a “nose dive.” The airplane impacted the runway and slid about 40 feet, substantially damaging the airplane’s firewall. The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine prior to the accident. The accident airport’s weather observation system reported at the time of the accident wind from 300 degrees at 12 knots. The pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented by using “higher than normal” airspeed in gusty wind conditions. The pilot reported that after an uneventful cross-country flight, he returned to the airport to practice three landings. The first two landings were normal and uneventful. During final approach of the third landing, the airplane encountered a wind shear and, despite the pilot’s control inputs, the airplane entered a nose dive. The airplane impacted the runway and slid about 40 feet, substantially damaging the airplane’s firewall. The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine prior to the accident. The accident airport’s weather observation system reported at the time of the accident wind from 300 degrees at 12 knots. The pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented by using higher than normal airspeed in gusty wind conditions. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-(general)-Effect on equipment
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2010_WPR10CA390.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 (wind shear). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Optimal recovery from microburst wind shear
The flight path of a twin-jet transport aircraft is optimized in a microburst encounter during approach to landing. The objective is to execute an escape maneuver that maintains safe ground clearance …
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
An Examination of Aviation Accidents Associated with Turbulence, Wind Shear and Thunderstorm
The focal point of the study reported here was the definition and examination of turbulence, wind shear and thunderstorm in relation to aviation accidents.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Analysis of extreme wind shear
New methods utilizing extreme value statistical theory are applied in the analysis of the largest wind component shear in a wind profile as a function of shear layer thickness and season.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Probabilities of zero wind shear phenomena based on Rawinsonde data records
Probabilities of zero wind shear occurence and depth based on rawinsonde data records
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
A Wind Shear Mechanism for Producing Sporadic E by Concentrating Minor Meteoric Ions
Wind shear mechanism for producing sporadic E layer by concentrating minor meteoric ions
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Some aspects of wind shear in the upper atmosphere
Hydrodynamic turbulence and wind shear in upper atmosphere
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗