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CHI95LA157

1995-05-19 · FRENCH LICK, Indiana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport FRH

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

the pilot's not attaining a recovery from a bounced landing. Factors were high obstructions, and the pilot's intentional precautionary landing on rough/uneven and soft terrain.

Factual narrative

On May 19, 1995, at 1635 eastern standard time, a Cessna 182P, N52830, registered to Eagle Air, Inc., of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and operated by a private pilot, was substantially damaged during a precautionary landing following an aborted landing attempt from runway 8 (5,500' x 100' (dry/asphalt) at French Lick, Indiana. The pilot and three passengers reported no injuries. The personal 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was on file. The flight departed Kalamazoo, Michigan, at 1600. In his written statement, the pilot said the airplane bounced twice on landing and he attempted to abort the landing; however when he thought that the airplane would not climb over tall obstacles in the departure path, he elected land the airplane on rough/uneven and soft and terrain off the runway. ON LANDING THE AIRPLANE BOUNCED TWICE AFTER WHICH THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO ABORT THE LANDING. THE PILOT FEARED THAT THE AIRPLANE WOULD NOT CLIMB OVER TREES IN THE DEPARTURE PATH OF THE AIRPLANE AND PERFORMED A PRECAUTIONARY LANDING OFF THE RUNWAY ON ROUGH, UNEVEN,AND SOFT TERRAIN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1995_CHI95LA157.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.