Event CEN21LA166

Factual narrative

The pilot of the personal flight stated that the airplane encountered an “updraft” during a landing flare, which he compensated for, but the airplane bounced twice and experienced a hard landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot stated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure that would have precluded normal airplane operation. The pilot reported that, while landing, the airplane encountered an “updraft” which “lifted” the airplane. The airplane subsequently came down and made a hard bounce. The pilot corrected, flared a second time, and landed the airplane. During the landing rollout, as he released back pressure, the propeller struck the runway. The pilot shut the airplane down, exited, and noticed the nose landing gear was gone. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage. The pilot reported that 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

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

• — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
• — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Pitch control-Not attained/maintained