- Date
- November 6, 2009, 13:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N702TMCirrus SR20
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 23, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20091106022419A
- Case key
- 75047
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 flare, which resulted in a hard landing and porpoise pilot induced oscillation.
Findings · 2
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 airplane landed hard and porpoised down the runway. On the third bounce, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane slid off the runway. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that the approach and the landing flare were normal. He said the main landing gear touched down first, and as the airplane's nose landing gear made contact with the runway, the airplane "jerked" upward. The pilot lowered the nose, and after the airplane touched down again, it bounced upward again. When the airplane landed for a third time, the nose landing gear collapsed, causing structural damage to the composite airplane. The airplane departed the runway where it came to rest upright in the dirt. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector interviewed the pilot. The pilot stated that he did not feel anything "unusual in the flight controls or in [their] response," the weather was not a factor, and there were no other outside distractions during the landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N702TM
- Reported as
- Cirrus SR20 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1649
- Engine
- Teledyne Continental Motors IO-360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- N702tm LLC
- Registered owner
- N702tm LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- VGT · North Las Vegas, NV
- Destination
- SBA · Santa Barbara, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- SBA · Santa Barbara Muni Airport, runway 15L, 4,178 × 75 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 31, 2009
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 132 total · 132 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- SBA
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 14, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 574 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.