- Date
- June 16, 2014, 18:45 local (23:45 UTC)
- Place
- Pleasanton, TX
- Injuries
- 5 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1671TCessna 414
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR go-around: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 14, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- FAA report
- 20140616014239A
- Case key
- 89458
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during an aborted landing due to an encounter with a tailwind.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot obtained the airport's weather information prior to landing, which included wind from 250 degrees at 9 knots gusting to 20 knots. He realized that he would land with a 90 degree crosswind on either runway and elected to land on the runway 34. When the airplane was on short final, the pilot realized the wind had shifted to a direct tailwind and he immediately executed a go-around. The pilot established a 500 feet per minute climb at an airspeed of 120 knots. When the airplane was about 200-feet-above the ground, the airplane began to descend and the airspeed began to decrease. The pilot was unable to arrest the descent and lowered the airplane's nose in an attempt to gain airspeed, but the airplane stalled and rolled left The pilot leveled the wings and the airplane impacted the ground in a level attitude, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane's fuselage and right wing. Wind reported five minutes after the accident was from 130 degrees at 14 knots gusting to 19 knots. The pilot reported there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane or engines that would have precluded normal operation prior to the accident.
Factual narrative
The pilot obtained the airport's weather information prior to landing, which included wind from 250 degrees at 9 knots gusting to 20 knots. He realized that he would land with a 90 degree crosswind on either runway and elected to land on the runway 34. When the airplane was on short final, the pilot realized the wind had shifted to a direct tailwind and he immediately executed a go-around. The pilot established a 500 feet per minute climb at an airspeed of 120 knots. When the airplane was about 200-feet-above the ground, the airplane began to descend and the airspeed began to decrease. The pilot was unable to arrest the descent and lowered the airplane's nose in an attempt to gain airspeed, but the airplane stalled and rolled left The pilot leveled the wings and the airplane impacted the ground in a level attitude, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane's fuselage and right wing. Wind reported five minutes after the accident was from 130 degrees at 14 knots gusting to 19 knots. The pilot reported there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane or engines that would have precluded normal operation prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1671T
- Reported as
- Cessna 414 (UNDESIGNAT)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 414-0464
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 5,900
- Engines
- Cont Motor TSIO-520 SER, reciprocatingCont Motor TSIO-520 SER, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Ping Ze Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- Ping Ze Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 5, 2014
- Departed
- ADS · Addison, TX
- Destination
- PEZ · Pleasanton, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PEZ · Pleasanton Municipal, runway 34, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 12, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 5,021 total · 1,100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 14 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- PEZ, 1 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 24, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.