- Date
- July 31, 2025, 08:40 local (14:40 UTC)
- Place
- Moriarty, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N50778Champion 7FC
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 9, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250731011409A
- Case key
- 200718
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 landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
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 pilot reported he was practicing landings and he intentionally flew slow on the approach to landing. The pilot said that during the landing flare, he forgot to focus on the horizon, and the airplane was high, and it stalled. Subsequently the airplane landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N50778
- Reported as
- Champion 7FC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 432
- Built
- 1961
- Airframe hours
- 3,780
- Engine
- Continental C90, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 2, 2025 · 96 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 0E0 · Moriarty Muni, runway 08/26, 7,702 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- 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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Last flight review
- October 24, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,490 total · 148 in this make and model · 873 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.24 inHg
- Observed at
- 0E0
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 9, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.9 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.