- Date
- June 16, 1996, 15:02 local (22:02 UTC)
- Place
- Avalon, CA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6261DCessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 25, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960616014029A
- Case key
- 29474
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 failure to initiate a landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing and porpoise, and his loss of directional control during an attempt to initiate a go-around with insufficient airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/mush and collision with parked aircraft. A visual illusion created by the runway gradient was a factor in this 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
Ground witnesses stated that the pilot did not flare and the aircraft touched down hard on the nose wheel and porpoised twice. On the second bounce the aircraft veered off the runway and toward a line of parked aircraft. The pilot attempted to recover by adding power; however, the aircraft stalled, impacted the ground, and collided with three parked aircraft.
Factual narrative
On June 16, 1996, at 1502 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N6261D, collided with three parked aircraft after a hard landing at Catalina airport, Avalon, California. The aircraft sustained substantial damage; however, neither the private pilot nor his three passengers were injured. The aircraft was being operated as a personal flight by Pars Air when the accident occurred. The flight originated in Santa Ana, California, about 1430 on the day of the accident. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan had been filed.
The airport manager reported that he first observed the aircraft in the traffic pattern on approach to runway 22. During the landing sequence the aircraft failed to flare and touched down on the nose wheel. The aircraft porpoised twice and on the second bounce, the pilot attempted to recover. The aircraft veered off the runway and stalled about 25 to 30 feet in the air, hit the ground, and subsequently struck three other parked aircraft.
The pilot reported that he was making a normal approach with 40 degrees of flaps. On touchdown he bounced once and then bounced a second time, when the aircraft struck a hole in the runway. The nosewheel began to shake severely and he applied back pressure on the control wheel but thought at this time he was nearing the end of the runway. He intentionally turned left to avoid running off what he thought was the departure end.
A second witness, who was a coworker of the airport manager, reported that he heard the engine accelerate during the accident sequence. He also stated that, although there was some spalling of the runway surface, there were no holes in the runway at the time of the accident.
According to the NOAA Airport/Facility Directory, pilots cannot see aircraft on opposite ends of the runway due to the runway gradient.
The other aircraft involved were identified as: a Beech G18S, N9375Y; a Grumman AA-5, N5439L; and another Cessna 172N, N6441D.
A postaccident inspection of the aircraft revealed that the flaps were still extended to 40 degrees and the aircraft was trimmed nose down.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6261D
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17272672
- Airframe hours
- 5,465
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Mamood Namdar
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 3, 1996 · 9 hours before
- Departed
- SNA · Santa Ana, CA
- Destination
- AVX
- Airport
- AVX · Catalina, runway 22, 3,240 × 100 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
- 43
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 111 total · 11 in this make and model · 36 as pilot in command · 19 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Observed at
- AVX
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.