- Date
- June 23, 2014, 22:30 local (Jun 24, 2014, 02:30 UTC)
- Place
- Miami, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N621AACessna 172M
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report October 9, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20140623011069A
- Case key
- 89624
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 ensure the security of the seat prior to flight, which resulted in a loss of control and subsequent hard landing.
Findings · 4
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 practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. She reported that during the landing flare for the final landing, her seat slid aft. The airplane ballooned and subsequently landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall and cabin floor structure. The accident airplane make/model was the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive (AD) regarding seat slippage, issued three years prior to the accident. Review of the airplane's maintenance logs revealed that the airplane had received the inspections required by the AD, and examination of the seat rail and latching mechanism by an FAA inspector revealed no anomalies.
Factual narrative
The pilot was conducting touch-and-go practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. She reported that during the landing flare for the final landing, her seat slid aft. The airplane ballooned and subsequently landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall and cabin floor structure. The accident airplane make/model was the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive (AD) regarding seat slippage, issued three years prior to the accident. Review of the airplane's maintenance logs revealed that the airplane had received the inspections required by the AD, and examination of the seat rail and latching mechanism by an FAA inspector revealed no anomalies.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N621AA
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17265161
- Built
- 1975
- Airframe hours
- 5,323
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Pilot Training Center LLC
- Registered owner
- Otero Rolando
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 30, 2014
- Departed
- TMB · Miami, FL
- Destination
- TMB · Miami, FL
- Airport
- TMB · Kendall-Tamiami Executive, runway 27R, 5,003 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 245 total · 45 in this make and model · 139 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- TMB
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 6, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.6 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.