- Date
- May 27, 2023, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Minden, NV · airport
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N180MKCessna 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
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20230527016779A
- Case key
- 193735
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 during the landing roll with a quartering headwind.
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
According to the pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane, he was flying in the airport traffic pattern and was on his third landing when the accident occurred. His third landing was a full-stop landing, and as the airplane was slowing to taxi speed, the wind direction changed. The airplane began to weathervane into the wind, tipped up onto one wheel, and the left wing and elevator impacted the ground and were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that he was new to flying tailwheel airplanes and did not react promptly with directional control inputs to prevent the airplane from weathervaning after landing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N180MK
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31409
- Airframe hours
- 5,990.2
- Engine
- Continental O-470-KCL, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- MEV · Minden-Tahoe
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 27, 2023
- Flight hours
- 130.4 total · 14.8 in this make and model · 34.1 in the last 90 days · 10.9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KMEV
- METAR
- METAR KMEV 271855Z AUTO VRB04KT 10SM CLR 20/04 A3000 RMK AO2=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 21, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.2 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.
Other investigations on N180MK · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.