NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA20CA099
Registry · N7047W
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-28-180
Year of manufacture
1963 · 57 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19620921
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A966CC
Registrant of record
APFLIGHT LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing, and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control, which resulted in a runway excursion and impact with sign.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that, while landing, the airplane had a "slight bounce", became airborne again, and drifted left of centerline. He overcorrected to the right with the rudder, and when the plane touched down a second time, the nose wheel was angled to the right and the airplane exited the runway onto the adjacent grass where the right wing impacted a taxiway sign.The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, while landing, the airplane bounced slightly and drifted left of centerline. He overcorrected to the right with the rudder, and when the airplane touched down again, the nosewheel was angled to the right. The airplane then exited the runway onto adjacent grass, and the right wing impacted a taxiway sign, which resulted in substantial damage to the wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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).
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Sign/marker-Effect on operation - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2020_ERA20CA099.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- 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,…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗