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Atlas / NTSB / WPR12CA333

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR12CA333

2012-07-29 Ellensburg, Washington, United States Airport · KELN None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of directional control during the landing roll.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated that he made a wheel landing on runway 07. As he pulled back on the elevator to lower the tail, the tail came up and he lost control of the airplane. The airplane veered left, then turned sideways to the direction of travel, and stopped suddenly causing the right wing to contact the ground. No preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures were found that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated that he made a wheel landing on runway 7. As he pulled back on the elevator to lower the tail, the tail came up, and he lost control of the airplane. The airplane veered left, then turned sideways to the direction of travel, and stopped suddenly causing the right wing to contact the ground. No preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures were found that would have precluded normal operation. 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
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_WPR12CA333.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.