ERA15CA196
2015-04-17 · Sebastian, Florida, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport X26
Current FAA registration · N66090
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 172P
- Year of manufacture
- 1983 · 32 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19830418
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A8B7E5
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's misjudged airspeed and glidepath, which resulted in a landing area overshoot and runway excursion.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that due to other traffic ahead in the airport traffic pattern, he purposely entered a high right base leg for runway 10, a 3,199-foot-long asphalt runway. The airplane remained high during the approach and the pilot attempted to land on the last one-half of the runway; however, the airplane was also too fast as the pilot had selected only 10 degrees of flap extension. The airplane subsequently touched down near the end of the runway, traveled over an approximate 500-foot grass area beyond the end of the runway, and struck a fence before coming to rest upright. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The inspector did not observe any preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane, nor did the pilot report any. The recorded wind near the accident site, about the time of the accident, was from 040 degrees at 7 knots. The pilot stated that due to other traffic ahead in the airport traffic pattern, he purposely entered a high right base leg for runway 10, a 3,199-foot-long asphalt runway. The airplane remained high during the approach and the pilot attempted to land on the last one-half of the runway; however, the airplane was also too fast as the pilot had selected only 10 degrees of flap extension. The airplane subsequently touched down near the end of the runway, traveled over an approximate 500-foot grass area beyond the end of the runway, and struck a fence before coming to rest upright. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The inspector did not observe any preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane, nor did the pilot report any. The recorded wind near the accident site, about the time of the accident, was from 040 degrees at 7 knots. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2015_ERA15CA196.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.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
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- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2019 · Accident report Embraer ERJ 175 Runway Excursion at Charlotte Douglas
Republic Airline ERJ-175 runway excursion CLT, January 2018. Examines a low-energy runway excursion involving misuse of autobrakes + thrust reverser response after a high-crosswind landing on a contam…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models
Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World Runway Safety Initiative Final Report (RSI)
Foundation Runway Safety Initiative final report — comprehensive analysis of runway excursion + incursion risk drivers worldwide.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article Towards online prediction of safety-critical landing metrics in aviation using supervised machine learning
Abstract In recent years, due to the increased availability of data and improvements in computing power, application of machine learning techniques to various aviation safety problems for identifying,…