NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA17CA207
Registry · N551BC
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 550
Year of manufacture
1979 · 38 years old at event
Engine
P&W CANADA JT15D-4
Seats / Engines
8 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
19960913
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A7033E
Registrant of record
RADAR RIDER LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
An in-flight collision with a goose during approach.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during approach a goose struck the airplane's left horizontal stabilizer. The airplane continued the approach and landed without further incident. A post-accident examination revealed the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, during approach, a goose struck the airplane's left horizontal stabilizer. The pilot continued the approach and landed without further incident. A postaccident examination revealed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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 Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Animal(s)/bird(s)-Ability to respond/compensate - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2017_GAA17CA207.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2013 · Conference Paper
Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) training in the 1550th combat crew training wing
The training program the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, implemented in September 1985 is discussed.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Martian Atmospheric Dust Mitigation for ISRU Intakes via Electrostatic Precipitation
The Mars 2020 and Mars Sample Return missions expected to fly to Mars within the next ten years will each include an In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) system.
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Scale Model Icing Research Tunnel
NASA Lewis Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) is the world's largest refrigerated wind tunnel and one of only three icing wind tunnel facilities in the United States.
- arXiv 2014 · arXiv preprint
Conical tip in frozen water drops
A theory is presented for the formation of a conical tip in water drops that are frozen on a flat surface below freezing temperature.
- NASA NTRS 2010 · Presentation
Airframe Noise Flight Test Measurements Using an Electret Condenser Microphone Array
An extensive collection of airframe noise flight test data has been acquired for a regional jet class of aircraft using a ground-based electret condenser microphone phased array system.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗