Skip to content

ERA14CA331

2014-06-23 · Miami, Florida, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport TMB

N621AA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (COSTRUZIONI AERONAUTICHE TECNA P2010, built 2025), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to ensure the security of the seat prior to flight, which resulted in a loss of control and subsequent hard landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot was conducting touch-and-go practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. She reported that during the landing flare for the final landing, her seat slid aft. The airplane ballooned and subsequently landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall and cabin floor structure. The accident airplane make/model was the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive (AD) regarding seat slippage, issued three years prior to the accident. Review of the airplane's maintenance logs revealed that the airplane had received the inspections required by the AD, and examination of the seat rail and latching mechanism by an FAA inspector revealed no anomalies. The pilot was conducting touch-and-go practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. She reported that during the landing flare for the final landing, her seat slid aft. The airplane ballooned and subsequently landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall and cabin floor structure. The accident airplane make/model was the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive (AD) regarding seat slippage, issued three years prior to the accident. Review of the airplane's maintenance logs revealed that the airplane had received the inspections required by the AD, and examination of the seat rail and latching mechanism by an FAA inspector revealed no anomalies. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Equipment/furnishings-(general)-Related maintenance info

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2014_ERA14CA331.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 (loss of control, maintenance). All research papers