- Date
- July 5, 2026, 20:00 local (Jul 6, 2026, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hickman, KY
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9103EMaule M-5-235C
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 27, 2026
- 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
- 20260705008699A
- Case key
- 203316
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 failure to maintain a proper glide path, which resulted in a runway undershoot.
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
At the conclusion of a local flight the pilot was returning to his private grass airstrip. He reported the wind was gusting to about 13 knots, and while on short final approach to land, he felt that the wind died abruptly and the airplane “lost lift.” The airplane descended before contacting a field of soybeans just short of the runway. The airplane then nosed over and came to rest near the approach end of the runway. The pilot was seriously injured and airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical empennage, rudder, and wing struts. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9103E
- Reported as
- Maule M-5-235C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7099C
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 2,523
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-J1A5D, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 18, 2026 · 3 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- N/A · N/A
- Equipment
- Onboard weather, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Stall warning system
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
- 63
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 29, 2026
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,800 total · 1,600 in this make and model · 10 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.90 inHg
- Observed at
- UCY, 16 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KUCY 060055Z AUTO 14006KT 10SM FEW095 23/23 A2990
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 27, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.6 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.