Pilot Debrief

Cirrus SR22 near Granbury, TX — 2018-08-20

Final reportCEN18LA341
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Date
2018-08-20
Location
Granbury, TX, USA
Airport
GDJ
Aircraft
Cirrus SR22
Registration
N1133T
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Minor
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Approach

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during a crosswind landing, which resulted in the airplane exiting the runway and impacting a ditch, tree, and fence.

NTSB narrative

The pilot was practicing instrument flight rules approaches and was returning for a landing with a light crosswind during dusk visual meteorological conditions. He disengaged the autopilot using the panel autopilot button. All flight controls seemed to perform normally. The right turn to base and right turn to final were made normally. On final approach, the pilot made minimal rudder inputs. As the pilot started to flare the airplane, he started putting in more rudder inputs. However, he could not depress the left rudder pedal fully. The airplane touched down about 80 knots on the main landing gear while the pilot was holding all the left rudder he could. The airplane started to veer to the right and continued off the runway, where it impacted a ditch, fence, and tree; the airplane sustained substantial damage to a wing and the fuselage. The pilot indicated that the yaw damper was on when he landed. However, the airplane was equipped with a recoverable data module that recorded the flight's configuration and navigation data, which indicated that the yaw damper was off about 1/4 mile before the landing runway threshold. Given the available information, the pilot likely did not maintain directional control of the airplane during the crosswind landing.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Automation / mode confusion
First missed decision gate
Pilot should have disengaged yaw damper before landing.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • FDR / data
  • Photos
  • 14 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents14

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