NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR20CA160
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
Aircraft control was not maintained during initial climb with gusting wind that resulted in a collision with power lines and the terrain.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that after a normal takeoff and initial climb to the height of tree tops, the airplane encountered a couple of wind gusts with wind shear. The pilot recovered airplane control when the airplane encountered another gust that dropped the airplane down into power lines and subsequently the terrain. The fuselage and wings were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that after a normal takeoff and initial climb to the height of tree tops, the airplane encountered a couple of wind gusts with wind shear. The pilot recovered airplane control when the airplane encountered another gust that dropped the airplane down into power lines and subsequently the terrain. The fuselage and wings were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on equipment
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Wire-Effect on equipment
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2020_WPR20CA160.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 ↗