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Atlas / NTSB / ERA20CA099

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA20CA099

2020-01-30 Naples, Florida, United States Airport · APF None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

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 ↗.

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.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗