WPR13LA307
2013-07-03 · Hurricane, Utah, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport 1L8
N220CP has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172S, built 2023), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s incorrect approach/descent path with a tailwind, which resulted in a long landing at an excessive groundspeed and a subsequent runway excursion.
Factual narrative
On July 3, 2013, about 1715 mountain daylight time, an experimental amateur built Boson, RV-4, N220CP, sustained substantial damage from a runway overrun during landing roll, at the General Dick Stout Field Airport (1L8) Hurricane, Utah. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The private pilot was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight which originated from Cedar City Regional Airport (CDC) Cedar City, Utah, about 1630, with a destination of 1L8. In a written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) the pilot reported that he did not recall the circumstances of the accident. Two witnesses located near the airport runway reported that the airplane landed long and then departed the runway surface at the end of runway 19. The airplane came to rest in a ravine about 100 yards from the departure end of the runway. One witness stated that the airplane's engine noise was normal and the airplane was moving at a high rate of speed upon landing. Examination of the accident site was conducted by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, who was able to obtain flight control and engine continuity and reported no anomalies. The airplane's fuselage and wings sustained substantial damage. A review of recorded weather data from the CDC automated weather observation station revealed at 1653 conditions were wind 320 degrees at 8 knots. Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine was conducted by a certified airframe and powerplant mechanic, under the supervision of the NTSB IIC investigator-in-charge. Flight control continuity was established throughout all primary flight control surfaces from the cockpit controls. Braking continuity was established and the brakes and tires were unremarkable. An engine run was accomplished using an external fuel source that was connected directly to the carburetor fuel port. An external battery was used to start the engine. The engine functioned normally throughout a various range of power settings and no anomalies were noted. The examination of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical anomalies or failures that would have precluded normal operation. For additional information, see the Airframe and Engine Examination Report in the Public docket. During the landing with a tailwind, the airplane departed the runway and came to rest in a ravine about 100 yards from the departure end of the runway. The pilot did not recall the circumstances leading to the accident. Two witnesses reported that the airplane landed long. One witness further stated that the engine sounded normal and that the airplane was moving at a high rate of speed after touchdown. Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Effect on equipment
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Surface speed/braking-Incorrect use/operation - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Sloped/uneven-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2013_WPR13LA307.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2019 · Accident report Embraer ERJ 175 Runway Excursion at Charlotte Douglas
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- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World Runway Safety Initiative Final Report (RSI)
Foundation Runway Safety Initiative final report — comprehensive analysis of runway excursion + incursion risk drivers worldwide.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article Towards online prediction of safety-critical landing metrics in aviation using supervised machine learning
Abstract In recent years, due to the increased availability of data and improvements in computing power, application of machine learning techniques to various aviation safety problems for identifying,…