- Date
- March 4, 2021, 16:10 UTC
- Place
- Hampton, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N150VRVashon Ranger R7
- 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
- 20210304014799A
- Case key
- 102777
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 student pilot’s improper flare while landing with a gusting crosswind which resulted in a hard landing and separation of the left landing gear.
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 student pilot was landing at the conclusion of his first solo cross-country flight with a 6 knot crosswind gusting to 14 knots. He aborted two attempts to land and was on his third landing attempt when he “flared too early and had a hard landing,” which resulted in the separation of the airplane’s left main landing gear. The student pilot subsequently landed on the two remaining landing gear, and the airplane departed the runway’s left side and came to rest upright with substantial damage to the fuselage, wing, and horizontal stabilizer. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N150VR
- Reported as
- Vashon Ranger R7
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 10142
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 162.5
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 160 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Happy Goat Flying Club
- Registered owner
- Fink Glen David
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special light-sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · April 1, 2020
- Departed
- ACJ · Americus, GA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- HMP · Atlanta Speedway, runway 06/24, 5,500 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 60 total · 13 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 6 knots, gusting 14
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.14 inHg
- Observed at
- KHMP
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 2, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 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.