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FTW02TA007

2001-10-03 · Houma, Louisiana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HUM

Current FAA registration · N727

Make / Model
CESSNA A185F
Year of manufacture
1982 · 19 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19901128
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A9BD8C

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

the pilot's high flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

On October 3, 2001, at 0900 central daylight time, a Cessna A185F floatplane, N727, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Houma-Terrebonne Airport, Houma, Louisiana. The airplane was registered to the U.S. Department of the Interior and was operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight. The flight departed Lafayette, Louisiana, at 0800. According to a representative from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the pilot was landing on runway 18 at Houma, when he flared too high and made a hard landing. The representative stated that one of the fuselage bulkheads sustained structural damage. The pilot was landing the amphibian airplane on a hard surface runway when he "flared too high and made a hard landing." One of the airplane's fuselage bulkheads sustained structural damage. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2001_FTW02TA007.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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