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WPR22LA121

2022-03-13 · Rock Springs, Wyoming, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RKS

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

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

Factual narrative

The pilot of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that, during the takeoff roll, after the tailwheel came off the ground, the airplane veered left and exited the side of the runway. The pilot rotated the airplane to lift off the ground and remain in ground effect, but the main landing gear impacted a snowbank. The airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted, which resulted in substantial damage to the empennage. 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

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_WPR22LA121.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