- Date
- June 25, 2024, 17:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Swans Island, ME
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7340XCessna 150
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- 20240625008989A
- Case key
- 194556
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 delayed decision to abort the landing. Contributing was his decision to land downwind.
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 stated that the tailwind for the selected turf runway was “5 to 10 [knots] with some gusting.” He said the winds “did not seem unruly…” so he continued the approach and once he was close to the ground the winds were “very flukey.” He said with full reduction of throttle, 30° of flaps, and speed slowed to “landing” the airplane would not “settle down.” At touchdown, the pilot said he was “too long.” He then increased throttle, and “released the flaps and carb heat to go around.” The pilot said that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane preventing normal operation, it simply did not have the performance capability to outclimb the trees. The pilot said the airplane’s left wing brushed a tree reducing its airspeed, and the stall warning sounded intermittently before the airplane “careened” into treetops before it settled nose down onto the ground. During the accident sequence, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and empennage. When asked how the accident could have been prevented, the pilot said a go-around performed “sooner” than the touch-and-go landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7340X
- Reported as
- Cessna 150 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15059440
- Built
- 1961
- Airframe hours
- 5,010.2
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 22, 2022 · 6.3 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- ME5 · Banks, runway 10/28, 1,500 × 30 ft, gravel
- Equipment
- 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
- 73
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 24, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 541 total · 405 in this make and model · 495 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.72 inHg
- Observed at
- BHB, 17 nm away
- METAR
- KBHB 252156Z AUTO 20011KT 10SM CLR 24/16 A2972 RMK AO2 SLP066 T02390156
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 20, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.7 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.