Overall Trends
Total, fatal, and serious accidents in the selected range.
Search investigations, review source evidence, monitor watched reports, and trace long-term patterns from one calm, data-first workspace.
Fast key and full-text search with live filters, watches, and precise metadata.
Use quotes for exact phrase matches (for example "fuel selector valve").
Track fatal and non-fatal accident patterns across Part 91, Part 135, and Part 121 operations.
Major cases, deep-report coverage, and investigation media across decades of NTSB history.
Move quickly by aircraft, airport, operator, and time with indexes built for research, not wandering.
NTSB Reports is an independent research and search tool for public aviation accident and incident records. It brings NTSB aviation reports, structured fields, docket files, extracted figures, photos, videos, and update history into one searchable interface.
The goal is practical safety education: make it faster to find relevant investigations, compare similar events, review factual records, and understand the evidence behind probable-cause and preliminary reports.
The investigative work and source records belong to the National Transportation Safety Board and the published investigation record. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NTSB.
Moneta, VA
The student pilot had just landed, and made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway. The right brake failed, and the airplane departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over. Post-accident examination revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted. The brake system had been last checked about 4 1/2 months earlier, during the airplane's latest annual inspection.
A slow leak of brake fluid from the right brake cylinder, which eventually resulted in a loss of right brake effectiveness.
On May 1, 2002, at 0855 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182A, N5198D, was substantially damaged while taxiing after landing at Smith Mountain Lake Airport (W91), Moneta, Virginia. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight from a private airstrip in Rocky Mount, Virginia, that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to the student pilot, he had just landed on runway 23. He made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway, to back taxi down runway 05, when the right brake failed. The airplane then departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over. An examination of the airplane after the accident by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted. According to the airplane's maintenance logbook, new wheels and brakes were installed on October 10, 1999. There was also a "check brakes" notation, dated December 22, 2001, as part of the logbook entry for the airplane's latest annual inspection.