SEA98LA184 · Taylorcraft BC12-D
Taylorcraft BC12-D · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water on approach
From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD) to Flying M Airport (OR05)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA98LA184
- 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
Taylorcraft BC12-D
- Aircraft type
- Taylorcraft BC12
- 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
- N95318
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Troutdale, ORTo Flying M Airport (OR05)
- 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/mush
- 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 › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While landing with a tailwind at the 2,125 foot grass airstrip, the aircraft was hit by a wind gust that pushed it toward the side of the runway. The pilot, who had landed to the west, decided to execute a go-around. While attempting the go-around toward rising terrain and tall trees, the pilot allowed the airspeed to fall below stalling speed (Vs), and the aircraft stall/mushed into the terrain. A note in the Airport/Facility Directory stated, 'Land to West, takeoff to East.'
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain an airspeed above stalling speed (Vs), and the resultant stall/mush of the aircraft into the terrain. Factors include the pilot's improper decision to attempt a go-around into rising terrain, landing with a tailwind, and trees and rising terrain off the end of the runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA98LA184
- Event ID
- 20001211X11174
- Case number
- SEA98LA184
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 75a8f2b77d2a8c7f12facd7e0d718d88f678e8b129ec0f49b5203a2743088975; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:41:32.386Z.