5 Apr 2010: STROUP ROBERT RV-6 — CARTER DAVID C

5 Apr 2010: STROUP ROBERT RV-6 — CARTER DAVID C

No fatalities • Muleshoe, TX, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during takeoff in strong, gusting winds.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot lined up the airplane along the centerline of runway 25 and noted that the winds would be a "strong quartering left headwind/crosswind." Shortly after commencing the takeoff roll the airplane's tail wheel lifted off the ground and the airplane began to veer left as the airplane weather vaned about 20 degrees to the left of runway heading. The pilot elected not to abort the takeoff and attempted to correct back to runway heading. As the airplane approached the edge of the 60-foot wide runway, the airplane became airborne. Control of the airplane was lost and the airplane pitched up and rolled right. The roll continued until the airplane was inverted at which time the nose dropped towards the runway and the airplane impacted the runway inverted and skidded 20 feet off the right side of the runway. A review of photos provided by the pilot and first responders revealed substantial damage to the fuselage and both wings. There were no reported anomalies with the airframe or engine prior to impact. At the time of the accident weather in the vicinity of the airport was winds from 220 degrees at 20 knots gusting to 27.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • Effect on operation
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 210/24kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.