- Date
- October 13, 2023, 09:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Denton, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6605JPiper PA-28-180
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA North Texas FSDO
- FAA report
- 20231013021329A
- Case key
- 193265
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 student pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while landing 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 student pilot was landing during a solo flight, and the airplane drifted to the left while between 100-200 ft above the runway. The student pilot initiated a go around. During the go around attempt, the main landing gear touched the ground; one wheel touched the runway surface, and the other wheel touched the grass adjacent to the runway. The right wing impacted the ground. The airplane departed the runway and came to rest upright. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The student pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The student pilot further reported that the surface wind, as observed at the windsock, had shifted to a tailwind during the flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6605J
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-5066
- Built
- 1968
- Airframe hours
- 4,084
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-ACIA, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 12, 2023
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- KDTO · Denton Enterprise Airport, runway 18R, 7,002 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 17
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 47.2 total · 46.2 in this make and model · 3.5 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.79 inHg
- Observed at
- KDTO
- METAR
- KDTO 131359Z 27013KT 10SM FEW021 FEW028 23/19 A2979 RMK AO2 T02330189,M
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 25, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.3 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.