- Date
- June 20, 2025, 11:55 local (18:55 UTC)
- Place
- San Andreas, CA · KCPU
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N28545Silvaire Luscombe 8A
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 14, 2025
- 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
- 200372
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 during landing roll following an encounter with a dust devil.
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 a tailwheel equipped airplane reported that after performing a wheel landing, the tailwheel settled onto the runway. Shortly after, the airplane encountered a strong gust of wind or dust devil, which turned the airplane about 90° to the left. Subsequently, the airplane exited the left side of the runway, traveled down an embankment, and both main landing gear collapsed before the airplane came to rest upright. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing the airplane on runway 31 with wind from 270° at 10 knots, gusting to 15 knots. One witness characterized the wind as a spiraling wind with extreme lift.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N28545
- Reported as
- Silvaire Luscombe 8A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1374
- Built
- 1940
- Airframe hours
- 9,591
- Engine
- Cont Motor A&C65 SERIES, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 13, 2024 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- K069 · Petaluma, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- CPU · Calaveras County/Maury Rasmussen Fld, runway 31, 3,602 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 77
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 8, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,082 total · 1,726 in this make and model · 2,029 as pilot in command · 53 in the last 90 days · 23 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 76 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.88 inHg
- Turbulence
- Moderate
- Observed at
- KCPU
- METAR
- KCPU 201855Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 25/02 A2990 RMK AO2 T02480019
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 14, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 15.9 MB in all.
Other investigations on N28545 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.