NTSB ERA21LA337 — 2021-08-21 · Mount Holly, New Jersey, United States

Current FAA registration · N838WT

Make / Model: VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV7A
Engine: AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20050409
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S AB7818

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N838WT Vans RV7 Minor

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s improper recovery from a bounced landing, resulting in a touchdown on the nose gear first, resulting in damage to the nose gear and a runway excursion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that the wind was light and variable as he entered the pattern for landing. All parameters were normal until he flared the airplane for landing. The main gear touched down and the airplane bounced. As the pilot continued the landing attempt, the nose gear touched down first and the airplane immediately veered to the left, departed the runway into the soft ground, and nosed over. The empennage and upper fuselage sustained substantial damage and the pilot had minor injuries. An examination of the nose landing gear revealed that it bent over during the impact. No mechanical malfunction of the nose gear was found. Scrape marks on the runway were consistent with contact on the strut. 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_ERA21LA337.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion). All research papers