- Date
- September 14, 2023, 15:05 local (19:05 UTC)
- Place
- Cortland, NY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5269GCessna 305
- 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230914015789A
- Case key
- 193083
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 directional control while landing in a gusting crosswind, which resulted in a noseover. Contributing was the pilot’s lack of familiarity with the airplane.
Findings · 4
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 multi-segment cross-country flight was the pilot’s first time flying the tailwheel-equipped airplane. Arriving at the destination airport, the pilot noted quartering gusts when he cleared a tree line to land on the asphalt runway. Following touchdown, the airplane pulled to the right and he applied left brake to correct; however, the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, empennage, and fuselage. Postaccident examination of the brakes revealed no evidence of any preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The recorded wind at the nearest weather reporting facility, about 13 miles southwest of the accident airport, was a quartering right crosswind at 12 knots, gusting to 19 knots at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5269G
- Reported as
- Cessna 305 (A)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21471
- Built
- 1951
- Engine
- Continental O-470, 213 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 22, 2023
- Departed
- RUT · Rutland, VT
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- N03 · Cortland County-Chase Fld, runway 24, 3,401 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator
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
- 58
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 9, 2023
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 5,050 total · 5.8 in this make and model · 4,846 as pilot in command · 360 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 12 knots, gusting 19
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- ITH, 13 nm away
- METAR
- KITH 141856Z 29012G19KT 10SM BKN040 16/08 A3017 RMK AO2 SLP216 T01610083
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 9, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 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.