GAA18CA236 · L-Bird LLC CCX-2000
L-Bird LLC CCX-2000 · Accident: runway excursion during takeoff
From Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2) to Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA236
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
L-Bird LLC CCX-2000
- Aircraft type
- L Bird CCX-2000
- 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
- N844FC
- Operator
- L-Bird
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2), Hood River, ORTo Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2), Hood River, OR
- Aircraft age
- About 1 year (built 2017)
- 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
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe 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
- Runway excursion
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, during takeoff, the experimental, amateur-built airplane encountered a right crosswind. The pilot applied right aileron and right rudder, but the airplane rolled to the left. The left wing struck the ground, and the airplane departed the left side of the runway. The left wing struck a runway light, and the airplane cartwheeled before coming to rest upright.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the engine mounts.
The METAR at the airport reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 290° at 9 knots, gusting to 22 knots. The wind direction was reported as variable between 230° and 320°. The pilot attempted to take off from runway 25.
In the recommendation section of the National Transportation Safety Board Pilot Aircraft Accident Report, the pilot reported that this accident could have been prevented by choosing to cancel the flight due to high-wind conditions.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to take off in gusting wind conditions, which resulted in a loss of directional control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA236
- Event ID
- 20180427X91412
- Case number
- GAA18CA236
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates. 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: fac345c08b988a00a5f338ed8d8aa9fe64c086cbcc9d9ec05e0534c15275def0; retrieved 2026-09-16T06:58:06.667Z.