- Date
- April 18, 2025, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Placerville, CA · Swansboro Country Airport (01CL)
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1286BLuscombe 8
- Defining event
- Landing: 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
- Case key
- 200051
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.
Findings · 2
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 of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that while on final for the runway, about 10 ft above ground level, the airplane sank and hit the runway. Subsequently, the airplane veered to the left, exited the runway, and impacted trees before it came to rest nose low, adjacent to the runway. Both wings and the fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing on runway 9 and the wind was light and variable.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1286B
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8 (A)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5913
- Built
- 1947
- Airframe hours
- 3,257
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 8, 2025 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- DWA · Woodland, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 01CL · Swansboro Country, runway 09/27, 3,100 × 50 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- 73
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 1, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 17,577 total · 36.5 in this make and model · 17,577 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- KPVF, 5 nm away
- METAR
- KPVF 181915Z AUTO 30006KT 10SM CLR 13/07 A3001 RMK AO1
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 3, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.9 MB in all.