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Atlas / NTSB / WPR11CA215

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR11CA215

2011-04-29 Bend, Oregon, United States Airport · KBDN None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N1679Z

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 185A

Year of manufacture

1962 · 49 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR I0-470 SERIES (260 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19620724

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A10F5A

Registrant of record

RIEMER EMIL F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the approach, the airplane experienced a constant crosswind from the left. As the airplane entered the landing flare, it encountered turbulence which the pilot believed was created by the hangars alongside the runway. The airplane touched down with the left wing low and during the roll out, the wind picked up the left wing. The pilot applied brakes and the airplane weather vaned into the wind. Subsequently, the right wing, right elevator and right horizontal stabilizer struck the ground resulting in substantial damage. At the time of the accident, the wind was reported from 320 degrees at 13 knots gusting to 17 knots. The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal flight. The pilot reported that during the approach the airplane experienced a constant crosswind from the left. As the airplane entered the landing flare, it encountered turbulence that the pilot believed was created by the hangars alongside the runway. The airplane touched down with the left wing low and, during the rollout, the wind picked up the left wing. The pilot applied brakes and the airplane weathervaned into the wind. Subsequently, the right wing, right elevator and right horizontal stabilizer struck the ground resulting in substantial damage. The wind was reported to be from 320 degrees at 13 knots gusting to 17 knots at the time of the accident. The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal flight. 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on equipment
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on equipment
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_WPR11CA215.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 or causal vocabulary (turbulence). 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 ↗