- Date
- April 28, 2006, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Willows, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1488CCirrus SR-20
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 31, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20060428008629A
- Case key
- 63732
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 misjudged landing flare and improper recovery from a bounced 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 airplane incurred structural damage during landing when the airplane entered a porpoise pilot induced oscillation and the propeller struck the runway. The student pilot was on the second leg of his solo cross-country flight. The approach to runway 34 was normal, but during touchdown the airplane porpoised. The pilot initiated an aborted landing, and flew the airplane to Red Bluff Municipal Airport where he landed uneventfully. He parked the airplane at the ramp and shut down the engine. The pilot inspected the airplane and found damage to the propeller resulting from ground impact during the porpoise. An inspection by maintenance personnel revealed structural damage. The pilot stated that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.
Factual narrative
On April 28, 2006, about 1400 Pacific daylight time, a Cirrus SR-20, N1488C, porpoised during landing at Willows-Glenn County Airport, Willows, California. The owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The cross-country instructional flight departed Stockton Metropolitan Airport, Stockton, California, about 1154, with a planned destination of Willows. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan had been filed.
The pilot submitted a written report. His solo cross-country flight originated at Mc Clellan Airfield, Sacramento, California. After takeoff, he flew to Stockton, where he performed a full stop landing. He then flew the airplane to Willows Airport.
The pilot stated that the approach to runway 34 at Willows was normal; however, the airplane porpoised after touchdown. He initiated an aborted landing, and flew to Red Bluff Municipal Airport where he landed uneventfully. He parked the airplane at the ramp and shut down the engine. The pilot inspected the airplane and found damage to the propeller resulting from ground impact during the porpoise. An inspection by maintenance personnel revealed structural damage.
The pilot notified the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board on May 18, 2006.
The pilot stated that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1488C
- Reported as
- Cirrus SR-20
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1329
- Airframe hours
- 426
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-ES, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Skyhawk Outdoor Advertising
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 2005
- Departed
- KSCK · Stockton, CA
- Destination
- KRBL · Red Bluff, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- WLW · Willows-Glenn County, runway 34, 4,506 × 100 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 46
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 72 total · 70 in this make and model · 5 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- CIC, 24 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.