- Date
- September 24, 2019, 16:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Elizabethtown, NC
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N101SDCessna 182
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 17, 2020
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20190924018269A
- Case key
- 100487
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 postaccident fire. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s distraction during short final.
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 reported that, during the approach, he noticed the airplane was high, so he reduced power and lowered the nose. While correcting, he was talking to his passenger and became distracted. He realized the was not at a good landing attitude, so he added power and pulled back on the yoke. Subsequently, the airplane landed hard, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the fuel system ruptured. The airplane veered left and exited the runway onto adjacent grass. The airplane was destroyed by postaccident fire. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot added as a safety recommendation that maintaining a sterile cockpit must always be a priority during landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that, during approach, he noticed the airplane was high, so he reduced power and lowered the nose. While correcting, he was talking to his passenger and became distracted. He realized he was not in a good landing attitude, so he added power and pulled back on the yoke. The airplane landed hard, which collapsed the nose landing gear and ruptured the fuel system. The airplane veered left and exited the runway onto the adjacent grass. The pilot and passengers egressed, and the airplane was destroyed in a postaccident fire. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot added as a safety recommendation that maintaining a sterile cockpit must always be a priority during landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N101SD
- Reported as
- Cessna 182 (Q)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18267059
- Built
- 1979
- Engine
- reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- EYF · Elizabethtown, NC
- Destination
- EYF · Elizabethtown, NC
- Airport
- EYF · Curtis L Brown Jr Field, runway 33, 5,006 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Auto-pilot
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
- 64
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 13, 2014
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 1,936 total · 1.2 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.82 inHg
- Observed at
- KEYF
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 19, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.3 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.