- Date
- October 13, 2007, 20:00 local (Oct 14, 2007, 03:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hillsboro, OR
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N45720Cessna 150M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20071013022429A
- Case key
- 66923
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 and delayed landing flare that resulted in a hard landing and porpoise down the runway. Contributing factors in the accident were the night conditions and the optical illusion created by the narrow runway width and upsloping terrain.
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 hit the runway earlier than the pilot expected. The touchdown was hard and the airplane bounced several times down the runway, striking the propeller blades on the runway before coming to rest upright on the pavement. The pilot indicated that the night conditions, narrow runway width, and the upsloping terrain, led her to believe that the airplane was higher than it actually was (night optical illusion). She was setting up to flare for landing when the airplane hit the runway hard, and bounced down the runway.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that she planned to flare for landing about 1/5 of the way down the runway; however, the airplane encountered the runway earlier than expected, landed hard, and bounced back into the air. The pilot decided to continue the landing as she was afraid that if she aborted the landing, the airplane would not clear the trees at the end of the runway. The second bounce was "very violent"; she found out later that the propeller blades had struck the runway. The pilot maintained direction control of the airplane as it bounced again. At that point she realized she needed to stop the engine, and "cut the mixture." Simultaneously as she reduced the mixture, the airplane bounced for the last time.
The pilot stated that the runway edge lights provided the necessary information to maintain runway centerline while on final approach. While on short final, she lost sight of the runway. The combination of not being able to see the pavement, the night illusion involved with a narrow runway, and upsloping terrain, led her to believe that the airplane's altitude was higher than it was.
According to the Airport/Facility Directory, Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark, runway 02's length is 2,465 feet by 48 feet in width.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N45720
- Reported as
- Cessna 150M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15077035
- Engine
- Teledyne Continental O-200-A, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Twin Oaks Airpark, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 7S3 · Hillsboro, OR
- Destination
- 7S3 · Hillsboro, OR
- Airport
- 7S3 · Stark'S Twin Oaks Airpark, runway 02, 2,400 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- September 1, 2007
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 487 total · 70 in this make and model · 259 as pilot in command · 59 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.