NTSB CAROL · Event
Event IAD98LA008
Registry · N4950A
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA A152
Engine
LYCOMING 0-235 SERIES (115 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19791012
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A62504
Registrant of record
SHAFFER BARBARA J
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's improper flare during touchdown, which resulted in a hard landing and subsequent encounter with terrain.
Factual narrative
On October 26, 1997, at 1145 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N4950A, was substantially damaged when it touched down hard and nosed over at Lincoln Park Airport, Lincoln Park, New Jersey. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed. The instructional flight originated at Lincoln Park, and was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot reported that during touchdown on runway 01, the airplane bounced three times. She said the third time was the hardest, and the nosewheel was uncontrollable. The airplane veered off the left side of the runway, struck the ground, and nosed over. An FAA Inspector reported that this was the pilot's fourth solo flight. The pilot reported that the winds were calm at the time of the accident, and she had over 63 hours of total flight time in make and model. She also reported that there was no mechanical malfunction. The pilot reported that during touchdown on runway 01, the airplane bounced three times. She said after the third bounce, the front wheel was uncontrollable, and the airplane veered off the left side of the runway, struck the ground, and nosed over. According to an FAA Inspector, this was the pilot's fourth solo flight. The pilot reported over 64 hours of total flight time, including 25 hours in make and model. She also reported that the winds were calm, and there was no mechanical malfunction. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1997_IAD98LA008.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
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 2021 · Poster
Sleep, Sleepiness, and Performance Across Three In-Flight Bunk Rest Opportunities
Introduction: Airline pilots are required to take a rest break in a bunk during long-haul flights in an effort to reduce sleepiness during critical phases of flight.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article (Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy)
Routine opioid outcome monitoring in community pharmacy: Outcomes from an open-label single-arm implementation-effectiveness pilot study.
BACKGROUND In response to rising harms with prescription opioids, recent attention has focused on how to better utilise community pharmacists to monitor outcomes with opioid medicines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2011 · Journal article (JAAER)
System Safety Study: Pedagogical Aviation Action Research
Action Research (AR) is a scientific methodology whereby researchers participate in a research setting for data collection and problem resolution.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗