NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA16CA522
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing and the left main landing gear wheel separating from the airplane, followed by an aborted landing, and a subsequent ground loop during the follow-on landing.
Factual narrative
According to a Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Safety Inspector, the pilot made a hard landing and the left main landing gear wheel separated from the airplane. Subsequently, the pilot aborted the landing, and on the second landing, the airplane ground looped. The airplane received substantial damage to the lift struts and lower fuselage. After multiple attempts to contact the pilot, the pilot did not fill out the National Transportation Safety Board Form 6120.1 Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report, or talk to the National Transportation Safety Board in regard to the accident. According to a Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Safety Inspector, the pilot made a hard landing and the left main landing gear wheel separated from the airplane. Subsequently, the pilot aborted the landing, and on the second landing, the airplane ground looped. The airplane received substantial damage to the lift struts and lower fuselage. After multiple attempts to contact the pilot, the pilot did not fill out the National Transportation Safety Board Form 6120.1 Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report, or talk to the National Transportation Safety Board in regard to the accident. 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 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
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_GAA16CA522.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.