- Date
- October 3, 2001, 09:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Houma, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N727Cessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 20, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- FAA report
- 20011003038179A
- Case key
- 53580
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 high flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot was landing the amphibian airplane on a hard surface runway when he "flared too high and made a hard landing." One of the airplane's fuselage bulkheads sustained structural damage.
Factual narrative
On October 3, 2001, at 0900 central daylight time, a Cessna A185F floatplane, N727, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Houma-Terrebonne Airport, Houma, Louisiana. The airplane was registered to the U.S. Department of the Interior and was operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight. The flight departed Lafayette, Louisiana, at 0800.
According to a representative from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the pilot was landing on runway 18 at Houma, when he flared too high and made a hard landing. The representative stated that one of the fuselage bulkheads sustained structural damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N727
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18504371
- Airframe hours
- 6,778
- Engine
- Continental IO-550-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- U.S. Geological Survey, doing business as U.S. Geological Survey
- Registered owner
- U.S. Department of Interior
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 18, 2001 · 145 hours before
- Departed
- LFT · Lafayette, LA
- Destination
- HUM · Houma, LA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- HUM · Houma-Terrebonne, runway 18, 6,508 × 150 ft, concrete
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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,700 total · 2,600 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.