- Date
- July 28, 2000, 09:10 local (16:10 UTC)
- Place
- North Las Vegas, NV
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3386DCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 1, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000728007639A
- Case key
- 49847
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 recovery from a bounced landing and subsequent failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft. Wind shear on landing approach was a factor in the accident.
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 reported that he encountered wind shear and developed a high sink rate during an otherwise normal landing approach. A bounced landing resulted and, during the attempt to recover from the bounce, the aircraft bounced again and veered off the runway. The right-hand main landing gear separated and the aircraft came to rest off the runway. Tire marks on the runway indicated that the aircraft first landed about 1,600 feet from the approach end of the runway and then veered off the runway about 200 feet further down the runway. Marks in the dirt indicated that the airplane then paralleled the runway for about 500 feet before becoming airborne again and travelling another 250 feet before coming to rest.
Factual narrative
On July 28, 2000, at 0910 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 180, N3386D, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at North Las Vegas, Nevada. The commercial pilot and one passenger were not injured. The personal flight departed from the French Valley airport at Murrieta/Temecula, California at 0715. The flight was operated by the owner under 14 CFR Part 91, and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and included light and variable winds and a 5,000-foot density altitude.
The pilot reported that he encountered wind shear and developed a high sink rate during an otherwise normal landing approach to runway 7. A bounced landing resulted and, during the attempt to recover from the bounce, the aircraft bounced again and veered to the right off the runway. The right-hand main landing gear separated and the aircraft came to rest off the runway.
An inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration Las Vegas Flight Standards District Office reported that tire marks on the runway indicated that the aircraft first landed about 1,600 feet from the approach end of runway 7, and then veered off the runway to the southeast about 200 feet further down the runway. Marks in the dirt indicated that the airplane then paralleled the runway for about 500 feet before becoming airborne again. The airplane finally came to rest about 250 feet further east on a southerly heading.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3386D
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32184
- Airframe hours
- 2,500
- Engine
- Continental O-470K, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Ross J. Capawana
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 2000 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- F70 · Temecula, CA
- Destination
- VGT
- Airport
- VGT · North Las Vegas, runway 7, 5,005 × 75 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 61
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,200 total · 250 in this make and model · 4,800 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 201 °F, dew point 81 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VGT
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 10, 2001, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 459 KB 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.