# NTSB CEN25LA071: Cessna 150F, N3589L, McKinney, TX, January 4, 2025

- Type: NTSB accident investigation
- Classification: Accident · No injuries · Class 4 · Limited · Final report
- Date: January 4, 2025, 09:44 local (15:44 UTC)
- Place: McKinney, TX · Runway
- Coordinates: 33.177065, -96.588767 (estimated)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=33.1771&lon=-96.5888&mi=10
- Phase of flight: [Landing](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/550) (OpenAirDocs' grouping)
- Defining event: [Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/090)
- Highest injury: No injuries
- Injuries: 2 uninjured
- Status: Completed, report December 18, 2025
- Report: Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class: Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office: Central Region
- Parties: Federal Aviation Administration - North Texas FSDO
- NTSB case key (mKey): 199519
- NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=CEN25LA071
- NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/199519/pdf
- NTSB docket: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=199519
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CEN25LA071

## Probable cause

The flight instructor’s inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action and the student pilot’s failure to maintain a proper landing flare, which resulted in a nose down impact with the runway.

## Findings

NTSB's coded findings; those marked are part of the probable cause.

- [Performance/control parameters: pitch control](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062022): Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability · Not attained/maintained (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 5 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062022/cases.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 526 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062022/cases.md)
- [Landing gear system: nose/tail landing gear](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023220): Aircraft › Aircraft systems · Capability exceeded (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023220/cases.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 185 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023220/cases.md)
- [Landing gear system: nose/tail gear attach section](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023221): Aircraft › Aircraft systems · Capability exceeded (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 2 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023221/cases.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 29 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01023221/cases.md)
- [Use of equip/info: aircraft control](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063040): Personnel issues › Task performance · Student/instructed pilot (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 28 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063040/cases.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 9,295 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063040/cases.md)
- [Action: delayed action](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02041025): Personnel issues › Action/decision · Instructor/check pilot (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 6 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02041025/cases.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 894 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02041025/cases.md)

## Sequence of events

The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event best describes what happened.

- [Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/090) (defining event); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 5 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/090/sequence.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 1,506 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/090/sequence.md)
- [Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing gear collapse](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/094); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 6 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/094/sequence.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 1,787 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/094/sequence.md)
- [Landing-flare/touchdown: Nose over/nose down](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/096); cases with it: [Cessna 150F, 19 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/096/sequence.md?model=2071814), [All aircraft, 2,287 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/096/sequence.md)

## Analysis

The student pilot and flight instructor were practicing touch-and-go landings with a left crosswind of about 5 knots. The student pilot reported that the airplane began to drift right during the landing flare. As he corrected for the right drift, the airplane pitched nose down and landed on the nose landing gear. The nose landing gear then collapsed, and the airplane slid to a stop on the runway in a nose down attitude. Several engine mount tubes fractured when the nose landing gear collapsed aft. The student pilot reported that he did not maintain a proper landing flare while he corrected for the right drift.

## Aircraft

- Registration: [N3589L](https://openairdocs.org/aircraft/N3589L), registered now, S/N 15062389, built 1965 (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: CESSNA 150F
- Registry model: [Cessna 150F](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150f) (registry code 2071814) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: [Continental 0-200 series](https://openairdocs.org/engine/continental-0-200-series) (registry code 17020, reciprocating) (OpenAirDocs)
- Category: Airplane
- Serial number: 15062389
- Year built: 1965
- Airframe hours: 4351
- Engines: Continental O-200 100 horsepower reciprocating
- Damage: Substantial damage
- Flight: Instructional, Part 91
- Operator: Texins Flying Club
- Registered owner: Texins Flying Club
- Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Utility
- Last inspection: 100 hour, October 1, 2024, 54 hours before
- Departed: TKI, McKinney, TX
- Destination: TKI, McKinney, TX
- Airport: TKI, McKinney National Airport, runway 18, 7,002 × 150 ft, concrete
- Equipment: Stall warning system

## Flight crew

As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.

- Flight instructor; age 77; injuries: none; flight instructor, commercial; airplane ratings: single-engine land, multi-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; medical: class 3, with waivers/limitations; last flight review April 24, 2023; seat: right; restraint: 3-point; flight hours: 6,870 total, 63 in this make and model, 6,597 as pilot in command, 38 in the last 90 days, 7 in the last 30 days, 0 in the last 24 hours
- Student pilot; age 62; injuries: none; student; medical: class 3, with waivers/limitations; seat: left; restraint: 3-point; flight hours: 23 total, 23 in this make and model, 18 in the last 90 days, 4 in the last 30 days, 0 in the last 24 hours

## Weather

- Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day
- Wind: 130° at 8 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling: 2,800 ft broken
- Temperature: 54 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter: 30.18 inHg
- Observed at: TKI
- METAR: KTKI 041553Z 13008KT 10SM BKN028 OVC048 12/07 A3018 RMK AO2 SLP225 T01220072

## FAA reports on this event (1)

The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs).

- [Accident 20250104000149A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20250104000149A), Jan 4, 2025: Cessna 150F, Mckinney, TX, Substantial damage. On January 04, 2025, at approximately 0948 central standard time, a Cessna 150F, [privacy data omitted], impacted and collapsed its nose landing gear, on…

## Other investigations on N3589L (1)

From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

- [NTSB CHI67D0660](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI67D0660), May 7, 1967: Cessna 150 (N3589L), Waukesha, WI, substantial damage

## Docket (2 files)

The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 18, 2025, on NTSB's docket system: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=199519. 5.2 MB in all.

- Pilot/operator aircraft accident report, NTSB form 6120.1 (item 1, PDF, 11 pages, 4.4 MB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=19572809&FileExtension=pdf&FileName=01%20-%20NTSB%20Form%206120_1_Redacted-Rel.pdf
- Photos (item 2, PDF, 4 pages, 3 photos, 805 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=19572782&FileExtension=pdf&FileName=02%20-%20Investigation%20Photographs-Rel.pdf

From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

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