- Date
- August 30, 2025, 07:00 local (13:00 UTC)
- Place
- Kanab, UT · runway/airport environment
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N71331Cessna 182M
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250830020349A
- Case key
- 201755
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 pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
According to the airplane owner, he had loaned the accident airplane to his brother-in-law, and the airplane had subsequently been returned to the owner. When the airplane was returned, the owner said he discovered that the propeller had damage that was consistent with a propeller strike. During a subsequent damage inspection of the airplane, maintenance personnel discovered substantial damage to the airplane’s fuselage and firewall that was consistent with a hard landing event. The owner then confronted the brother-in-law about the damage, and he confirmed that the damage occurred while he was operating the airplane but provided no further information concerning the accident. The owner reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Repeated attempts by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge to contact the accident pilot were unsuccessful, and he did not submit the required NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report Form 6120.1.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71331
- Reported as
- Cessna 182M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18259582
- Built
- 1969
- Airframe hours
- 4,257
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-470 SERIES, 225 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 10, 2025 · 30 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- KNB · Kanab Muni, runway 19, 6,200 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS, 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
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 15 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 32 °F
- METAR
- SA 30/08/2025 12:55-> METAR KAZC 301255Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/12 A3024 RMK AO2=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 22, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.6 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.