NTSB ERA21LA179 — 2021-03-26 · Tampa, Florida, United States

Current FAA registration · N392DC

Make / Model: DIAMOND AIRCRAFT DA20-C1
Year of manufacture: 2004 · 17 years old at event
Engine: CONT MOTOR IO-240 SER (128 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20041012
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A48A85

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N392DC DIAMOND AIRCRAFT IND INC DA20-C1 None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a subsequent hard landing and a nose landing gear collapse.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, after the landing touchdown, the airplane started to “porpoise” on the runway and on the third bounce the nose landing gear collapsed. Subsequently, the propeller and fuselage impacted the runway and the airplane skidded to a stop. The airplane’s firewall and fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported, and a postaccident examination corroborated that, there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
— Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA179.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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