- Date
- October 4, 2025, 12:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Flanigan, NV · North of Dead Cow Lakebed/High Sierra Fly-In
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N80JMMaye James A Just Aircraft Escapade
- 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
- 20251004016709A
- Case key
- 201829
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 · 5
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 stated that he departed with another airplane to evaluate potential backcountry landing sites. The pilot of the other airplane landed first on a grass hill and recommended to the accident pilot over the radio that he approach the landing area from another angle as the terrain was rough. The accident pilot visually assessed the terrain and selected what appeared to be a smoother and more suitable landing area. However, the terrain was upsloping and steeper than it appeared from the air. During touchdown, the airplane landed hard, the main landing gear collapsed and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported that there were no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N80JM
- Reported as
- Maye James A Just Aircraft Escapade
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- JAESC 0025
- Built
- 2009
- Airframe hours
- 278.6
- Engine
- Rotax 912S, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · February 2, 2025 · 50.81 hours before
- Departed
- Flanigan, NV
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 6, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,439 total · 177 in this make and model · 1,386 as pilot in command · 75 in the last 90 days · 33 in the last 30 days · 3.7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 9, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.7 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.