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Atlas / NTSB / GAA17CA485

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA17CA485

2017-08-12 Sparta, Michigan, United States Airport · 8D4 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N52450

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 182P

Year of manufacture

1973 · 44 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19731218

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A69AEA

Registrant of record

VANDELAY INVESTMENT GROUP LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane landed hard and bounced. He added that he performed a go-around, landed, and taxied to the ramp uneventfully. During a walkaround before another flight that day, he noticed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the fuselage during his previous flight. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that the airplane landed hard and bounced. He added that he performed a go-around, landed, and taxied to the ramp uneventfully. During a walkaround before another flight that day, he noticed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the fuselage during his previous flight. 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 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_2017_GAA17CA485.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 or causal vocabulary (go-around). 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 ↗