- Date
- July 31, 2025, 09:19 local (16:19 UTC)
- Place
- Thermal, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2658CCessna R182
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 12, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards
- Case key
- 200705
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 extend the landing gear during landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to use a pre-landing checklist.
Findings · 4
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 reported that, while in the pattern practicing touch and go landings, he forgot to extend the landing gear and that he landed with the landing gear retracted. Subsequently, the airplane slid down the runway before it came to rest. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The pilot indicated that he did not use a pre-landing checklist. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2658C
- Reported as
- Cessna R182 (NO SERIES EXISTS)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- R18200198
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 4,480
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-J3C5D, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 23, 2024
- Departed
- KUDD · Bermuda Dunes, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- TRM · Jacqueline Cochran Rgnl, runway 17/35, 8,500 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, 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
- 70
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 150 total · 5 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- KTRM
- METAR
- KTRM 311652Z AUTO 14003KT 10SM CLR 34/12 A2989 RMK AO2 SLP125 T03390122 TSNO
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 12, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 MB in all.