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Atlas / NTSB / GAA19CA566

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA19CA566

2019-09-18 Denton, Texas, United States Airport · DTO None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing and a nose landing gear collapse.

Factual narrative

The student pilot reported that, during landing, he flared too high. He added that the airplane sank and landed hard. The airplane bounced multiple times and the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount. The safety manager for the flight school reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The airport's automated weather observation station reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 100° at 8 knots. The student pilot landed the airplane on runway 18. The student pilot reported that, during landing, he flared the airplane too high. The airplane then sank, landed hard, and bounced multiple times, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount. The safety manager for the flight school 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2019_GAA19CA566.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.