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ERA20CA165

2020-03-30 · New Symrna Beach, Florida, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport EVB

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The flight instructor's delayed remedial action and decision to not go-around after a bounced landing, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and hard landing.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor said he was not on the flight controls as the student pilot made a stable approach to the runway for a full stop landing. The student pilot initiated a flare over the runway but did not follow thru and the airplane bounced about 20-30 ft back into the air. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and tried to save the landing; however, the airplane stalled and landed hard resulting in substantial damage to the firewall and fuselage. The flight instructor said there were no mechanical issues with the airplane and the accident could have been prevented if he had executed a go-around. The flight instructor said he was not on the flight controls as the student pilot made a stable approach to the runway for a full stop landing. The student pilot initiated a flare over the runway but did not follow thru and the airplane bounced about 20-30 ft back into the air. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and tried to save the landing; however, the airplane stalled and landed hard resulting in substantial damage to the firewall and fuselage. The flight instructor said there were no mechanical issues with the airplane and the accident could have been prevented if he had executed a go-around. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Instructor/check pilot - C
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_ERA20CA165.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, go-around). All research papers