- Date
- September 20, 2020, 14:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Laconia, NH
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N18778Beech B19
- 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
- FAA report
- 20200920021869A
- Case key
- 103005
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 the nose landing gear collapsing.
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 pilot reported that the airplane was too high and too fast on short final approach. It then floated in ground effect and bounced. The pilot attempted to perform a go-around, but the airplane would not climb and began porpoising, followed by hard contact of the nose landing gear (NLG) and propeller with the runway. The pilot subsequently landed on the grass area off the right side of the runway. The airplane sustained damage to the NLG, propeller, engine mounts and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N18778
- Reported as
- Beech B19
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- MB-849
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 3,974
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 1, 2020 · 48 hours before
- Departed
- MHT · Manchester, NH
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- LCI · Laconia Municipal Airport, runway 8, 5,890 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 10, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 188 total · 125 in this make and model · 45 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.52 inHg
- Observed at
- LCI
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 19, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.