- Date
- July 19, 2025, 10:53 local (14:53 UTC)
- Place
- Lansing, MI
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N888DKCessna A185F
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: 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
- 20250719009209A
- Case key
- 200576
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 and subsequent failure to maintain directional control during the landing in a crosswind condition.
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 flared too high during the landing, possibly due to a runway width illusion. The airplane bounced on contact with the runway and then began to weathervane into the crosswind. The pilot stated he performed control inputs to minimize the ground loop but was unsuccessful and the right wing scraped the runway. Contact with the runway resulted in substantial damage to the right wing and aileron. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing the airplane on runway 28L with wind from 200° at 8 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N888DK
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18504385
- Built
- 1982
- Airframe hours
- 1,652.4
- Engine
- Continental IO-550-D027B, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 14, 2025
- Departed
- KOEB · Coldwater, MI
- Destination
- KLAN · Lansing, MI
- Airport
- LAN · Capital Region International Airport, runway 28L, 8,506 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Data recorder, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 38
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 16, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 295 total · 100 in this make and model · 173 as pilot in command · 57 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KLAN
- METAR
- KLAN 191453Z 20008KT 10SM FEW030 SCT037 OVC044 24/19 A3002 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02390194 58007
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.9 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.