- Date
- August 26, 2025, 08:20 local (13:20 UTC)
- Place
- Hartford, WI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N18HSVans RV-12IS
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 15, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250826019429A
- Case key
- 200874
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 student pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control while landing on a turf runway.
Findings · 2
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 student pilot was performing a landing after a solo flight. He attempted to land on runway 27 twice but there were trucks on the runway. He performed a go-around and switched to runway 18 which is a turf/grass runway. Immediately following touchdown, the airplane hit a bump on the runway and the airplane to become airborne again. The airplane porposied twice and the nose landing gear contacted the ground and collapsed which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N18HS
- Reported as
- Vans RV-12IS
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 121381
- Built
- 2024
- Airframe hours
- 88
- Engine
- Rotax 912 iS Sport, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kettle Moraine Youth Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Kettle Moraine Youth Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 5, 2025
- Departed
- HXF · Hartford, WI
- Airport
- HXF · Hartford Muni, runway 18, 2,231 × 196 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Data recorder, Electronic primary flight display, Stall warning system, Angle of attack indicator, 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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 17 total · 17 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.22 inHg
- Observed at
- KUNU, 14 nm away
- METAR
- KUNU 261335Z AUTO 28003KT 10SM CLR 13/10 A3022 RMK AO2 T01330099 TSNO
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 15, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.2 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.