Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / GAA17CA312

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA17CA312

2017-05-30 El Cajon, California, United States Airport · SEE None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N483SP

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172S

Year of manufacture

1998 · 19 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING I0-360-B1E (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19980928

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A5F55C

Registrant of record

SCANDINAVIAN AVIATION ACADEMY INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's incorrect landing flare, which resulted in the airplane porpoising upon touchdown.

Factual narrative

The solo student pilot reported that, during the second landing of the flight, the "nose wheel touched [the] ground first" and the airplane porpoised. He added that he applied power to abort the landing and subsequently completed a normal traffic pattern and landing. The firewall sustained substantial damage. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The solo student pilot reported that, during the second landing of the flight, the "nose wheel touched [the] ground first," and the airplane porpoised. He added that he applied power to abort the landing and subsequently completed a normal traffic pattern and landing. The firewall sustained substantial damage. The student pilot reported 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

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-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Incorrect use/operation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA17CA312.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗