Event CEN21LA397

Factual narrative

The pilot approached the airport to land with the wind generally aligned with the runway. The pilot reported that while on short final, he received a traffic alert from an on-board system alerting him to traffic on a short final. He continued the approach perceiving that performing a go-around would result in a potential mid-air collision. As he flared the airplane the wind quickly shifted to a direct crosswind which resulted in the right main landing gear touching down earlier than expected. The pilot applied a slight increase in power to prevent the nose landing gear from impacting the runway. The wind then reportedly shifted to a direct tailwind and the pilot lost control of the airplane. The nosewheel contacted the runway hard at which time the pilot performed a go-around. He landed the airplane without further incident. An examination of the airplane found substantial damage to the firewall and lower fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations. 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-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained