LAX02LA194
2002-06-06 · SEDONA, Arizona, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport SEZ
Current FAA registration · N94986
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 182Q
- Year of manufacture
- 1978 · 24 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S AD3226
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate recovery from a bounced landing.
Factual narrative
On June 6, 2002, about 1200 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182Q, N94986, made a hard landing at Sedona, Arizona. The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The personal local flight departed Sedona about 1120. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The pilot stated he landed on runway 03. Just as he began to flare, he experienced a rapid descent to the ground. The airplane hit hard and bounced. The pilot added power on the second bounce and initiated a go-around. The pilot thought the airplane continued in the porpoise event for one more bounce before the airplane became airborne. During the landing roll, the nose began to vibrate and the vibration worsened as he slowed down. Post landing inspection revealed that the nose wheel was flat and the fuselage and firewall were rippled. Just as the pilot began to flare, he experienced a rapid descent to the ground, which resulted in a hard landing. The airplane bounced; the pilot added power on the second bounce and initiated a go-around. The airplane porpoised and contacted the ground one more time before becoming airborne. During the landing roll, the nose began to vibrate and the vibration worsened as he slowed down. Post landing inspection revealed that the nose wheel was flat and the fuselage and firewall were rippled. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_LAX02LA194.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World Go-Around Safety Forum Findings
Foundation Go-Around Safety Forum technical findings — examines why pilots fail to execute go-arounds when criteria are met (stabilized approach gate not met, energy state out of envelope, traffic con…
- Semantic Scholar 2022 · Article (Journal of Safety Research) Go-around accidents and general aviation safety.
INTRODUCTION Changes in General Aviation (GA) accident rates, specifically in the go-around phase, are examined by comparing the number of accidents, the proportion of fatal accidents, and the proport…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aerospace) Classification and Analysis of Go-Arounds in Commercial Aviation Using ADS-B Data
Go-arounds are a necessary aspect of commercial aviation and are conducted after a landing attempt has been aborted. It is necessary to conduct go-arounds in the safest possible manner, as go-arounds …
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes) Go-Around Criteria Refinement for Transport Category Aircraft
Presently, airline pilots are trained to go around if, when lower than 500 ft above the ground, they are outside of a handful of parameters such as airspeed, position, and rate of descent.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Validation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria Under Various Environmental Conditions
This paper evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on touchdown performance under varying approach states and validates proposed go-around criteria developed using data from a previously con…