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WPR11CA134

2011-02-12 · Groveland, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport KE45

N17AJ has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AEROCAD INC COZY MKIV, built 2000), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to compensate for crosswind conditions and maintain directional control during the landing roll, which resulted in a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated on the NTSB Pilot Aircraft Accident Report that as the airplane settled on runway 27 it passed some hangars and a hill, and the tail was pushed by a crosswind. The pilot tried to correct the movement but was unsuccessful. The airplane departed the runway at 35-40 mph, pivoted up on the nose, twisted to the right, and settled back down on its landing gear. Substantial damage to the left wing tip of the top wing was identified. The pilot reported that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated that as the airplane settled on the runway, it passed several hangars and a hill, and the tail was pushed by a crosswind. The pilot tried to correct the movement but was unsuccessful. The airplane departed the runway at 35-40 mph, pivoted up on the nose, twisted to the right, and settled back down on its landing gear. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that it sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that the airplane and engine experienced no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, 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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_WPR11CA134.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers