- Date
- May 5, 2025, 09:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Port of Del Bonita, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N108RMStinson 108-3
- 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
- 20250505005299A
- Case key
- 200125
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 loss of directional control while landing in gusting wind conditions.
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 reported that prior to landing in the tailwheel equipped airplane, he obtained the current weather at his destination airport, where the wind was reported as calm. During the landing, after touchdown, he felt a large wind gust push the airplane to the left. The airplane then veered left and departed the runway through a barbed wired fence, which resulted in substantial damage to the right elevator and fuselage. The pilot confirmed that the right side rudder steering arm separated during the accident sequence. The pilot reported no other preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that could have precluded normal operation. At about the time of the accident, the pilot was landing on runway 25, with the wind from 360° at 22 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N108RM
- Reported as
- Stinson 108-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 108-5257
- Built
- 1948
- Airframe hours
- 3,331.4
- Engine
- Continental O-470L, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 21, 2025 · 12 hours before
- Departed
- CTB · Cut Bank, MT
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- H28 · Whetstone Intl, runway 07/25, 4,440 × 65 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- 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
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 5, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 311 total · 40 in this make and model · 184 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 22 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 43 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.24 inHg
- Icing
- Unknown
- Turbulence
- Unknown
- Observed at
- KCTB, 29 nm away
- METAR
- KCTB 051456Z AUTO 36022KT 10SM BKN060 OVC075 06/M03 A3024 RMK AO2 PK WND 36030/1444 SLP251 T00611033 51021 $
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.6 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.