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CHI89LA076 · Waco YMF

23 Apr 1989 · Lansing, MI, United States

Waco YMF · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing

From 2D8 · East Lansing, MI to Capital Region International Airport (LAN)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI89LA076
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

Waco YMF

Aircraft type
Waco YMF
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
N455RT
Operator
Tarrson, Ronald · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 2D8 · East Lansing, MITo Capital Region International Airport (LAN), Lansing, MI
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 › Aircraft handling, improper
  • Pilot in command › Brakes(normal), excessive
  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

WHILE ON AN AIRCRAFT FAMILIARIZATION FLIGHT, DURING THE LANDING ROLL, THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND ALLOWED THE AIRCRAFT TO DRIFT TO THE LEFT AND DEPART THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY. AS THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED THE RUNWAY, THE PILOT APPLIED BOTH BRAKES 'HARD', AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER IN THE GRASS. THE CHECK PILOT IN THE FRONT SEAT HAD NO ACCESS TO BRAKE PEDALS.

Probable cause

PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING THE LANDING ROLL, AND HIS EXCESSIVE BRAKE APPLICATION AS THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED THE RUNWAY, WHICH RESULTED IN THE AIRCRAFT NOSING OVER. THE PILOT'S INEXPERIENCE IN TAILDRAGGER AIRCRAFT, AND THE INADEQUATE SUPERVISION ON THE PART OF THE CHECK PILOT WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI89LA076
Event ID
20001213X28066
Case number
CHI89LA076
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: 23b2ced85c8c535baba4c9482f2b961fd25f9b4b22c77941b3c3b76f11076793; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:40:47.794Z.