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CEN15LA351

2015-07-19 · Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LNL

N142DD has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DJI AGRAS T50), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper descent rate, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

On July 19, 2015, about 1335 central daylight time, a Vans RV-9A, N142DD, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Kings Land O' Lakes Airport (LNL), Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to details provided by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors, the airplane landed hard on the grass runway and bounced twice. After the second bounce, the nose gear fork embedded into the grass. The nose landing gear leg folded under the cowling. The propeller spinner dug into the ground and the airplane nosed over, coming to rest inverted. The vertical stabilizer and main spar sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported to the FAA inspectors that the airplane hit uneven surface during the landing and that caused the nose landing gear to collapse. A local mechanic drove the runway in his vehicle and advised the FAA inspectors there were no irregularities in the surface in the area of the nose gear collapse. The NTSB did not receive a completed "Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report" from the pilot. The pilot and passenger were landing on a grass strip when the airplane landed hard and bounced twice. The nose gear fork embedded in the grass surface, the nose gear collapsed, and the propeller lodged in the soil. The airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted, which resulted in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and main spar. Although the pilot thought that the airplane had hit an uneven surface during landing that caused the gear to collapse, an examination of the grass runway did not reveal any irregularities in the surface of the area of the nose gear collapse. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action performance-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent rate-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2015_CEN15LA351.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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