- Date
- November 23, 2024, 14:40 local (21:40 UTC)
- Place
- Lewistown, MT · Open field
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9533HCessna A185F
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20241123017989A
- Case key
- 195554
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 inadvertent impact with a rock during a landing on a grass strip.
Findings · 1
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 pilot of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that while landing on an off-airport airstrip with a grass/turf surface, the right main landing gear rolled over a rock, which then dislodged from the ground. The rock then struck the empennage which resulted in substantial damage to the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9533H
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503446
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 3,775
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D-172B, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 2024
- Departed
- LWT · Lewistown, MT
- Destination
- Priv · Lewistown, MT
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Stall warning system, ADS-B
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
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 16, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,725 total · 2,400 in this make and model · 2,725 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KBTM
- METAR
- METAR KBTM 242153Z AUTO 21005KT 10SM FEW047 SCT060 01/M08 A2995 RMK AO2 SLP167 T00111078=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 22, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.3 MB 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.
Other investigations on N9533H · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.