- Date
- November 5, 2025, 14:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Brainerd, MN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9054CCessna R182
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 9, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20251105016749A
- Case key
- 201966
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 extended to landing gear before landing.
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 was completing a local flight and was practicing an instrument approach. During the approach he observed several birds in his intended flight path, which distracted him multiple times, and he forgot to extend the landing gear. Due to the distraction, he also did not notice the landing gear warning horn. The airplane landed with the gear retracted and came to rest upright on the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9054C
- Reported as
- Cessna R182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- R18200381
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 5,363.6
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-J3C5D, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Soaring Soul LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 14, 2025
- Departed
- KBRD · Brainerd, MN
- Destination
- KBRD · Brainerd, MN
- Airport
- BRD · Brainerd Lakes Rgnl, runway 16/34, 7,100 × 150 ft, concrete
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot
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
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 30, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,873 total · 10 in this make and model · 8,264 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 6.9 in the last 30 days · 0.7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- KBRD
- METAR
- METAR KBRD 051953Z AUTO 32010KT 10SM CLR 10/M03 A3016 RMK AO2 SLP222 T01001033 $=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 9, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.2 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.