- Date
- July 30, 2024, 19:15 local (Jul 31, 2024, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Castroville, TX · Runway 16
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N8840SCessna 150F
- Defining event
- Takeoff: 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
- Federal Aviation Administration - San Antonio FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240730011289A
- Case key
- 194828
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced landing and his failure to maintain proper airplane pitch control and airspeed during the go-around, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude.
Findings · 7
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 was conducting touch-and-go landings with a gusting left crosswind when the airplane bounced upon touchdown on the runway. The pilot reported he increased the throttle to takeoff power for a go-around, but the airplane drifted off the right side of the runway and entered an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude. The airplane came to rest upright in a crop field adjacent to the runway with substantial damage to both wings and the left aileron. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8840S
- Reported as
- Cessna 150F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15062140
- Built
- 1965
- Airframe hours
- 4,196
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Blue Thunder Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- Blue Thunder Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 7, 2024 · 29 hours before
- Departed
- CVB · Castroville, TX
- Airport
- CVB · Castroville Municipal Airport, runway 16, 5,001 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 42
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- August 10, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 263 total · 3 in this make and model · 255 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Pilot-rated passenger
- Age
- 40
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 10 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- CVB
- METAR
- METAR KCVB 302355Z AUTO 16010G16KT 7SM SCT055 A2992 RMK AO2
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.3 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.
Other investigations on N8840S · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.