- Date
- March 28, 2025, 14:20 local (18:20 UTC)
- Place
- Chesterfield, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4754Vans RV-12
- 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
- 20250328009909A
- Case key
- 200085
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 the collapse of the nose 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 pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern and reported that he was slightly high on final approach and added power to reach the runway threshold. As he began the flare, a gust of wind struck the airplane and it yawed to the right. He applied left rudder to correct, but the descent rate remained high, and the airplane touched down hard on the right main landing gear and bounced. After regaining control, he completed the landing. During the landing rollout, he described feeling a vibration and hearing a scraping noise, which led him to believe the nose landing gear had collapsed. The airplane subsequently came to reset and a postimpact fire ignited inside the engine cowling. Airport personnel extinguished the fire shortly thereafter. The airplane’s fuselage was substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane’s flight controls that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4754
- Reported as
- Vans RV-12
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 120531
- Built
- 2017
- Airframe hours
- 236
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · November 17, 2023 · 3 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- FCI · Richmond Exec/Chesterfield County, runway 15, 5,500 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 77
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 16, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 284 total · 164 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 13 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- FCI, 1 nm away
- METAR
- KFCI 281956Z AUTO 19013G17KT 10SM CLR 25/06 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP219 T02500056
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.