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Atlas / NTSB / WPR25LA120

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR25LA120

2025-03-26 Madras, Oregon, United States Airport · S33 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N1418C

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-22

Engine

LYCOMING 0-290 SERIES (140 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560430

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A0A9DA

Registrant of record

WAAAM VOLUNTEER FLYING ASSOCIATION LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of control during landing roll with gusty winds.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that prior to landing in the tailwheel equipped airplane, he obtained the current weather of the destination airport, which included the current wind. During the final approach to land the wind was a lot stronger and gustier than expected. He advanced the throttle to make a crosswind correction to the left. About 10 ft above the runway the pilot set up for a three-point landing. Shortly after landing, the left wing began to rise, and the nose stared to turn to the right. Subsequently, the airplane quickly turned to the right and the right wing tip and right elevator impacted the runway, which resulted in substantial damage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that could have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing on runway 16, with the wind from 150° at 16 knots, gusting to 21 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).

  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Ability to respond/compensate
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Attain/maintain not possible

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_WPR25LA120.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 (loss of control). 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 ↗