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WPR25LA049 · Cirrus Design Corp SF50

26 Nov 2024 · Mesa, AZ, United States

Cirrus Design Corp SF50 · Accident: abnormal runway contact during takeoff

From an unrecorded airport to Hector International Airport (KFAR)

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Event

NTSB case
WPR25LA049
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

Cirrus Design Corp SF50

Aircraft type
Cirrus SF50
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
N701MK
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Hector International Airport (KFAR), Fargo, ND
Aircraft age
About 5 years (built 2019)
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 · rejected 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
Abnormal runway contact
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 systems
  • Personnel issues › Action/decision
  • Personnel issues › Task performance

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

NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, while conducting a takeoff, he heard an unrecognizable sound and aborted the takeoff roll. The pilot applied brakes and pulled the throttle simultaneously. The airplane subsequently lifted off the ground and returned to the runway surface on the nose, which resulted in a collapse of the nose landing gear. The airplane’s emergency procedures has a caution that states “the airplane might rotate and lift off the ground if thrust lever is abruptly brought to IDLE prior to brake application.” A postaccident review of the airplane’s flight data from the Recoverable Data Module (RDM) revealed that the landing gear lever was in the UP position during the takeoff roll when one of the weight on wheel (WOW) sensors showed it airborne. A few seconds later, the WOW sensor reactivated and the airplane settled on the nose gear. The nose gear was in the transitory and unlocked position at that time and collapsed. Subsequently, when the airplane came to rest, the landing gear lever was placed in the DOWN position. Pitch angle and radar altimeter data from the RDM also showed that the airplane remained on the runway surface during the takeoff and abort. The pilot reported no failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Probable cause

The pilot’s improper landing gear selection during the takeoff roll and failure to maintain airplane control during a rejected takeoff, which resulted in abnormal contact with the runway and a collapse of the nose landing gear.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record WPR25LA049
Event ID
20241202195564
Case number
WPR25LA049
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: local date, investigation status, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2024-11-27.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: e3e3354d081c11ca04a611bd396b66cddadfba56764b813d7e4bee811ec28371; retrieved 2026-09-16T19:30:45.650Z.