- Date
- August 12, 2017, 10:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Sparta, MI
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N52450Cessna 182
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 2018
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20170812012489A
- Case key
- 95815
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.
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 reported that the airplane landed hard and bounced. He added that he performed a go-around, landed, and taxied to the ramp uneventfully. During a walkaround before another flight that day, he noticed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the fuselage during his previous flight. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that the airplane landed hard and bounced. He added that he performed a go-around, landed, and taxied to the ramp uneventfully. During a walkaround before another flight that day, he noticed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the fuselage during his previous flight. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52450
- Reported as
- Cessna 182 (P)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18262617
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 3,831
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-470-R, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 10, 2017
- Departed
- 8D4 · Sparta, MI
- Destination
- 8D4 · Sparta, MI
- Airport
- 8D4 · Paul C Miller-Sparta, runway 25, 4,032 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, 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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 4, 2015
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 318 total · 140 in this make and model · 235 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- KGRR, 16 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 13, 2018, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.7 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.