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Atlas / NTSB / GAA17CA520

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA17CA520

2017-09-03 Wilmington, Delaware, United States Airport · ILG Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N378QS

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 680

Year of manufacture

2006 · 11 years old at event

Engine

P&W CANADA PW306C

Seats / Engines

9 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

20061013

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A452F2

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The passenger’s inadvertent slip on the airplane's air stairs during deplaning, which resulted in a broken ankle.

Factual narrative

The director of aviation safety for the operator reported that after landing, while parked at the ramp, the pilot in command exited the flight deck to open the cabin door. He added that the pilot "found the lead passenger standing in front of the main cabin door waiting to exit the aircraft." He further added that, "he [the pilot] was able to open the door from this position, but did not have room to exit the aircraft ahead of the passenger," and as the passenger started down the airplane's air stairs, her foot slipped, she landed on her knees, and caught her balance by grabbing onto the hand rails. A subsequent medical examination revealed the passenger broke her ankle. The director of aviation safety did not report that there were any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The director of aviation safety for the operator reported that, after landing, while parked at the ramp, the pilot-in-command exited the flight deck to open the cabin door. He added that the pilot "found the lead passenger standing in front of the main cabin door waiting to exit the aircraft." He further added that "…[the pilot] was able to open the door from this position, but did not have room to exit the aircraft ahead of the passenger," and as the passenger started down the airplane's air stairs, her foot slipped, she landed on her knees, and she caught her balance by grabbing onto the hand rails. A subsequent medical examination revealed that the passenger had broken her ankle. The director of aviation safety 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-Miscellaneous-(general)-(general)-Passenger - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA17CA520.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.