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WPR21LA302

2021-07-24 · Sandpoint, Idaho, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SZT

Current FAA registration · N946PD

Make / Model
PIPER J3C-65
Year of manufacture
1947 · 74 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR C85 SERIES (85 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19560609
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD24BB

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during landing with a crosswind which, resulted in a runway excursion and impact with terrain.

Factual narrative

The pilot in the tail wheel-equipped airplane reported that, while performing a touch-and-go landing with a slight crosswind from the right, the airplane drifted off the left side of the runway and into a depression in the terrain. The airplane collided with a berm which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_WPR21LA302.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers