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Atlas / NTSB / LAX07CA228

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX07CA228

2007-07-18 San Luis Obispo, California, United States Airport · SBP None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N599CA

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

DTA SARL COMBO FC

Year of manufacture

2007 · 0 years old at event

Engine

ROTAX 912UL SERIES (80 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20130709

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A7BF09

Registrant of record

LADD RALPH J

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's improper flare, which resulted in a hard landing. Also causal was the instructor's inadequate supervision.

Factual narrative

In a written report to the National Transportation Safety Board, the CFI stated that during an instructional flight, he and the student pilot were performing a touch-and-go landing at the time of the accident. The airplane started to roundout in the flare, with a slight climb, followed by a quick pitch down, which the CFI thought was due to a sudden power reduction by the student. The airplane nose gear impacted the runway and collapsed. The CFI stated he felt the accident could have been avoided by maintaining steady partial power, maintaining a slight nose up pitch attitude, and landing farther down the runway. The CFI and student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the aircraft. The airplane collided with the runway while practicing a touch-and-go landing. The flight instructor stated that just as the airplane was rounding out in the flare the airplane made a quick pitch down, which the instructor thought was due to a sudden power reduction by the student. The airplane nose gear impacted the runway and collapsed. The instructor stated that he felt the accident could have been avoided by maintaining steady partial power, maintaining a slight nose-up pitch attitude, and landing farther down the runway. The instructor and student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the aircraft. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2007_LAX07CA228.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 (icing). 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 ↗