- Date
- July 29, 2016, 08:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wickenburg, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N34867Cessna 177
- Defining event
- Landing-aborted after touchdown: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 31, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20160729012589A
- Case key
- 93725
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 incorrect balked landing procedure, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent, hard landing, a runway excursion, and nose gear collapse.
Findings · 4
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 reported that after a hard landing the airplane began to porpoise and he decided to abort the landing. The pilot reported that during the aborted landing, he added power and as the airplane began to climb, he retracted the flaps too soon and too quickly and the airplane settled back onto the runway, landed hard again, veered off the runway to the right, collapsed the nose gear, and stopped in a nose down attitude. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right aileron, fuselage, and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The procedures for a balked landing, as provided by Cessna, state: 1. Power – Full throttle and 2700 RPM 2. Carburetor Heat – Cold 3. Wing Flaps – Retract to 20 degrees 4. Upon reaching an airspeed of approximately 75 MPH, retract flaps slowly The pilot reported as a safety recommendation to wait longer for the aircraft to further stabilize, gain speed, and begin climbing before retracting flaps.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that after a hard landing the airplane began to porpoise and he decided to abort the landing. The pilot reported that during the aborted landing, he added power and as the airplane began to climb, he retracted the flaps too soon and too quickly and the airplane settled back onto the runway, landed hard again, veered off the runway to the right, collapsed the nose gear, and stopped in a nose down attitude. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right aileron, fuselage, and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The procedures for a balked landing, as provided by Cessna, state: 1. Power – Full throttle and 2700 RPM 2. Carburetor Heat – Cold 3. Wing Flaps – Retract to 20 degrees 4. Upon reaching an airspeed of approximately 75 MPH, retract flaps slowly The pilot reported as a safety recommendation to wait longer for the aircraft to further stabilize, gain speed, and begin climbing before retracting flaps.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N34867
- Reported as
- Cessna 177 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17702055
- Built
- 1974
- Airframe hours
- 3,406
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1F6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 1, 2015
- Departed
- E25 · Wickenburg, AZ
- Destination
- E25 · Wickenburg, AZ
- Airport
- E25 · Wickenburg Muni, runway 23, 6,101 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- 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
- 58
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 11, 2016
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 374 total · 26 in this make and model · 374 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 17 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- KLUF, 33 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 16, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.1 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.