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LAX97LA228 · Aviat A-1

1 Jul 1997 · Novato, CA, United States

Aviat A-1 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing

From Logan-Cache Airport (LGU) to 056

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Event

NTSB case
LAX97LA228
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Aviat A-1

Aircraft type
Aviat A-1
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N13HU
Operator
Christopher T. Condy · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Logan-Cache Airport (LGU), Logan, UTTo 056
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Landing · landing roll
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Loss of control on ground/water
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Ground loop/swerve, not corrected

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that he was landing on runway 31, when the aircraft encountered a crosswind gust. The aircraft then veered off the right side of the runway and went into a drainage ditch as it slowed almost to a stop. When the aircraft contacted the bottom of the ditch, it nosed over onto its back. No mechanical discrepancies were observed by FAA inspectors who examined the aircraft. Examination of runway 31 revealed marks which began near the right side of the runway at 1,934 feet from the approach end. At a distance of 2,110 feet, tire tracks departed the right side of the runway and continued 120 feet until terminating at the drainage ditch. The 25-foot-wide by 6-foot-deep drainage canal paralleled the runway and was 45 feet from the runway edge.

Probable cause

the pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions during landing, and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft. The gusty crosswind condition was a related factor.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX97LA228
Event ID
20001208X08417
Case number
LAX97LA228
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1997-07-02.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 94f7bc4726de07dde98469f67aad6060d78fc9d6a575e3ed0054a550092c05fb; retrieved 2026-09-22T19:18:11.466Z.