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ANC19CA002

2018-10-03 · Gambell, Alaska, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GAM

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s unstabilized approach and improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

According to the flight crew, the instrument approach was flown above the glide slope in anticipation of mechanical turbulence. As the airplane descended through 500 ft, the pilot monitoring notified the pilot flying, that the airplane was high on the approach. The airplane continued the approach above the glide slope and the landing flare was conducted too high, which resulted in an excessive sink rate. The pilot flying attempted to arrest the sink rate but was unable, and the airplane landed harder than expected, striking the tail, which resulted in substantial damage to the lower aft fuselage. According to the flight crew, the instrument approach was flown above the glideslope in anticipation of mechanical turbulence. As the airplane descended through 500 ft, the pilot monitoring notified the pilot flying that the airplane was high on the approach. The airplane continued the approach above the glideslope, and the landing flare was conducted too high, which resulted in an excessive sink rate. The pilot flying attempted to arrest the sink rate but was unable to do so, and the airplane landed harder than expected, which resulted in a tail strike and substantial damage to the lower aft fuselage. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2018_ANC19CA002.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (unstabilized approach, turbulence). All research papers