- Date
- December 4, 2014, 12:18 local (17:18 UTC)
- Place
- Vero Beach, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N756EBCessna R182
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 7, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20141204022539A
- Case key
- 90491
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, resulting in a hard landing.
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
At the conclusion of a local flight, the pilot returned to his home airport and approached the runway for landing. The airplane touched down on the runway with the main landing gear, bounced back into the air, and touched down a second time, with the nose landing gear striking the runway first. The nose landing gear tire then separated from the landing gear, and the airplane continued down the runway on the wheel's rim. The remaining lower portion of the landing gear subsequently broke away from the airplane, and the airplane eventually came to a stop on the runway. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors examined the runway and airplane following the accident and estimated that the distance between the airplane's initial impact and where it eventually came to rest was about 300 feet. The separated portions of the nose landing gear were recovered from that portion of the runway, including the tire, wheel rim, landing gear fork, and up-position microswitch. Post accident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation, and that the firewall and lower portion of the fuselage had been substantially damaged.
Factual narrative
At the conclusion of a local flight, the pilot returned to his home airport and approached the runway for landing. The airplane touched down on the runway with the main landing gear, bounced back into the air, and touched down a second time, with the nose landing gear striking the runway first. The nose landing gear tire then separated from the landing gear, and the airplane continued down the runway on the wheel's rim. The remaining lower portion of the landing gear subsequently broke away from the airplane, and the airplane eventually came to a stop on the runway. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors examined the runway and airplane following the accident and estimated that the distance between the airplane's initial impact and where it eventually came to rest was about 300 feet. The separated portions of the nose landing gear were recovered from that portion of the runway, including the tire, wheel rim, landing gear fork, and up-position microswitch. Post accident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation, and that the firewall and lower portion of the fuselage had been substantially damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N756EB
- Reported as
- Cessna R182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- R18201046
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 6,301
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Fj & B Aero LLC
- Registered owner
- Fj & B Aero LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 20, 2014 · 85 hours before
- Departed
- VRB · Vero Beach, FL
- Destination
- VRB · Vero Beach, FL
- Airport
- VRB · Vero Beach Muni, runway 04, 4,974 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, 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
- 71
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 4,834 total · 22 in this make and model · 853 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- KVRB
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 2, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.6 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.
Other investigations on N756EB · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.