- Date
- October 9, 2021, 12:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Chesterfield, MO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N24783Cessna 172R
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20211009018059A
- Case key
- 104102
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 failure to maintain control of the airplane while landing in gusting wind conditions, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing and the nose landing gear collapsing. .
Findings · 3
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
The pilot reported that he’d entered the traffic pattern on a left downwind as requested by air traffic control for runway 26R with a reported wind from 210° at 8 knots with gusts to 17 knots. As the airplane crossed of the runway numbers about 30 ft above ground level, the airplane encountered a wind gust. The pilot applied left aileron to counter the wind gust and maintain runway centerline. Shortly thereafter, the wind gust dissipated, and the airplane abruptly dropped to the runway surface. The left main landing gear struck the runway, and the airplane bounced to the right. The airplane’s nose landing gear then impacted the runway and collapsed. The airplane exited the right side of the runway and came to rest upright in the grass. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower forward fuselage and engine firewall, and the pilot was not injured. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24783
- Reported as
- Cessna 172R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17281029
- Built
- 2001
- Airframe hours
- 4,276.9
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Elite Approach LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 10, 2021 · 55.6 hours before
- Departed
- FYG · Washington, MO
- Airport
- SUS · Spirit Of St Louis, runway 08L/26R, 5,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Stall warning system
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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 5, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 290 total · 191 in this make and model · 72 as pilot in command · 42 in the last 90 days · 1.4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 11 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- KSUS
- METAR
- KSUS 091754Z 19011G16KT 10SM CLR 29/17 A2984 RMK AO2 SLP099 T02940172 10300 20161 58012
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 18, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.9 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.