- Date
- December 9, 2025, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Eureka, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N339XMaule M-5-210C
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 202143
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 landing in crosswind conditions. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of recent flight experience.
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 upon landing in the tailwheel-equipped airplane, it encountered a crosswind. The right wing lifted, and the left wing dropped and struck the runway, contacting the asphalt surface. The pilot reported that he did not apply appropriate crosswind control inputs during landing. The airplane subsequently ground looped and exited the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing and aileron. The pilot reported no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing on runway 19 with light and variable wind at 5 knots. The pilot added that the accident flight was his first flight in about 7 years, but could not remember exactly when his last flight was.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N339X
- Reported as
- Maule M-5-210C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 6151
- Built
- 1975
- Airframe hours
- 2,534
- Engine
- Continental IO-360, 210 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 1, 2023 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- 53U · Big Fork, MT
- Destination
- 88M · Eureka, MT
- Airport
- 88M · Eureka, runway 01/19, 4,200 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, 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
- 68
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2012
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 877 total · 500 in this make and model · 0 in the last 90 days · 0 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Turbulence
- Light
- Observed at
- KGPI, 51 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGPI 092055Z 00000KT 10SM SCT060 07/M03 A2997
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 13, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.0 MB in all.
Other investigations on N339X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.