- Date
- June 29, 2020, 14:34 local (18:34 UTC)
- Place
- Pittsfield, MA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N29334Cessna 177
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA / FSDO
- Case key
- 101571
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, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing, and substantial damage to the airplane’s fuselage.
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
As the pilot approached the destination airport he noted a thunderstorm cell in the vicinity as he entered the airport traffic pattern. During the subsequent landing the airplane, “…hit and porpoised twice.” The pilot further described that as the landing continued, he was losing control, and the airplane was drifting to the left side of the runway, so he initiated a go around and joined the traffic pattern for another landing. The second landing was normal, and he taxied to the ramp. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuselage structure was substantially damaged during the first landing. Review of the weather conditions that prevailed at the time of the accident indicated that the pilot landed with right quartering crosswind. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot further stated that he should have been less rushed to land and should have extended the downwind for landing as he did after the go around, to a safe, less rushed landing and tie down.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N29334
- Reported as
- Cessna 177 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17700820
- Built
- 1968
- Airframe hours
- 4,098.5
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 25, 2019 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- N27 · Towanda, PA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- PSF · Pittsfield Muni, runway 26, 5,791 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, 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
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 18, 2019
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 10,248 total · 10 in this make and model · 10,101 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 28.84 inHg
- Observed at
- KPSF
Docket · 7
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 11, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 15.5 MB in all.
Other investigations on N29334 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.