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CEN20CA396

2020-09-16 · Jacksonville, Texas, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport JSO

Current FAA registration · N972DD

Make / Model
PIPER PA 46-350P
Year of manufacture
2014 · 6 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING TIO-540-AE2A (350 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20140828
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD8B62

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during the landing approach and the exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack at low altitude resulting in an aerodynamic stall. Contributing was the instructor pilot’s failure to adequately monitor the student pilot’s actions during the approach.

Factual narrative

The instructor pilot reported that while practicing an engine-out landing in the traffic pattern, the pilot-rated student overshot the turn from base leg to final rolling out to the right of the runway centerline. The student pilot attempted to turn back toward the runway and then saw that the airplane’s airspeed was rapidly decreasing. The instructor reported that when he realized the severity of the situation it was too late to do anything. The student attempted to add power for a go-around but was unable to recover. The airplane stalled about 10 ft above the ground, impacted the ground right of the runway, and skidded onto the runway where it came to rest. Both wings and the forward fuselage were substantially damaged. Both pilots stated there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Identification/recognition-Instructor/check pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_CEN20CA396.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing, stall, go-around). All research papers