- Date
- May 30, 2024, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Greensboro, NC
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3687LCessna 172G
- 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
- 20240530007029A
- Case key
- 194466
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 landing and a subsequent loss of directional control.
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
According to the pilot, as he began to flare for landing, the airplane started “ballooning.” The airplane subsequently landed hard, veered off the runway and struck a ditch. The nose landing gear was displaced into the engine firewall, and the underside of the forward fuselage was buckled. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3687L
- Reported as
- Cessna 172G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17253856
- Built
- 1965
- Airframe hours
- 6,255
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-AYM, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 29, 2024 · 50 hours before
- Departed
- GSO · Greensboro, NC
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- GSO · Piedmont Triad Intl, runway 05L/23R, 9,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Electronic primary flight display, 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
- 49
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 25, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 82 total · 74 in this make and model · 18 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.08 inHg
- Observed at
- KGSO, 46 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGSO 301854Z VRB05KT 10SM SCT055 24/10 A3008 RMK AO2 SLP179 T02390100
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 19, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 9.7 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.