- Date
- March 7, 2025, 19:02 local (Mar 8, 2025, 03:02 UTC)
- Place
- Redding, CA · runway 34
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N32371Piper PA-32-300
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250307005209A
- Case key
- 199975
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The pilot's failure to maintain a stabilized approach and his delayed action to perform a go-around, resulting in a collision with the runway surface.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings.
Analysis
The pilot reported that, during landing, the airplane encountered low level wind shear as it passed through 500 ft above ground level (AGL). He said that during the initial approach, the airplane had a 20-knot headwind; however, near the ground, the wind shifted to a tailwind and the airplane subsequently nosedived. The nose wheel impacted the ground hard, and the propeller struck the ground. The pilot then attempted a go-around, but the engine did not respond and the second impact with the ground resulted in the nosewheel collapsing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. Surface wind conditions at the accident airport were reported as calm immediately before and after the accident. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N32371
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-7540035
- Built
- 1974
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540 KIAS, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 19, 2024 · 157 hours before
- Departed
- KSBA · Santa Barbara, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- KRDD · Redding, runway 34, 7,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, ADS-B
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 25, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 612 total · 134 in this make and model · 485 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KRDD
- METAR
- METAR KRDD 080353Z 31006KT 10SM CLR 13/M04 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP208 ACFT MSHP T01281039= SPECI KRDD 080326Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/M01 A3015 RMK AO2 ACFT MSHP T01331011= SPECI KRDD 080318Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/M03 A3014 RMK AO2 T01281033= METAR KRDD 080253Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 14/M04 A3014 RMK AO2 SLP205 T01391039 53011=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.0 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.