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Atlas / NTSB / WPR21LA139

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR21LA139

2021-03-18 Twin Falls, Idaho, United States Airport · TWF None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N1956W

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH B19

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19731119

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A17DFD

Registrant of record

GASAWAY CHAD D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control during initial climb with a crosswind when the airspeed decreased, the airplane exceeded its critical angle of attack and aerodynamical stalled at too low an altitude for the pilot to recover before the airplane descended and landed hard.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the initial climb from runway 08 with a crosswind, the airplane attained an altitude of about 50 ft above ground level when it encountered low level wind shear. The airspeed decreased, and the airplane stalled. The pilot attempted to recover airspeed by lowering the nose, but there was not enough altitude or time. The airplane subsequently landed hard substantially damaging the right wing and aft fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. About the time of the accident the reported wind was from 180o at 18 knots. 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).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_WPR21LA139.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 (wind shear, stall). 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 ↗