Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / CEN23LA091

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN23LA091

2022-12-19 Pocahantas, Iowa, United States Airport · POH None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2930J

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 150G

Year of manufacture

1966 · 56 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-200 SERIES (100 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19661129

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A30300

Registrant of record

TETIL NICHOLAS M

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s landing flare which resulted in a bounced landing and the nose landing gear collapsing. Contributing to the accident was the airplane's encounter with adverse weather conditions which led to structural icing that affected flight characteristics and obscured the pilot's vision. Also contributing to the accident were the self-induced and external pressures that influenced the pilot’s decision to initiate and continue the flight.

Factual narrative

The non-instrument rated private pilot reported that, during a night cross-country flight, the airplane encountered ice that began to accumulate on the windshield and obscured the pilot's vision. The pilot reported that during landing he had no pitch control, the airplane landed hard, and bounced. On the third bounce, the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane came to rest upright on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated in his report that he allowed external factors to influence his decision making related to the flight. He noted that he wanted to make it back home for the Christmas holiday and that he had already missed a day of work. He also stated that he did not obtain updated weather information and that if he had he may have made the decision to not start the flight. 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).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Weather planning-Pilot
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Ceiling/visibility/precip-Obscuration-Contributed to outcome
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Dark-Effect on operation
  • Personnel issues-Psychological-Personality/attitude-Motivation/respond to pressure-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_CEN23LA091.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗