NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX96LA250
Registry · N9408L
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 172P
Year of manufacture
1986 · 10 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19860122
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD10A3
Registrant of record
MCCALLUM DAVID DBA
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the student pilot misjudged the landing flare resulting in a hard landing. A factor in the accident was high airspeed.
Factual narrative
On June 29, 1996, at 1052 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172, N9408L, collided with runway 26 at the Camarillo, California, airport. The airplane was being operated by Sun Air Aviation, Inc., Camarillo, as an instructional flight when the accident occurred. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the student pilot was not injured. The local flight originated from the Camarillo airport. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. The pilot indicated on his accident report he was number 2 to land behind another aircraft on runway 26. He made several power adjustments to slow the airplane and increase his spacing. He then increased power to stay above stall speed. He believed that as he flew over the runway threshold the speed was too great. The pilot indicated he misjudged the flare and bounced hard during touchdown. Postflight examination of the airplane revealed the firewall had been bent. The pilot was number 2 to land behind another aircraft on the runway. The pilot made several power adjustments to slow the airplane to increase the spacing while on final approach. The pilot then increased power to stay above stall speed. As the airplane flew over the runway threshold the speed was too high and the pilot misjudged the flare and bounced hard during touchdown. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1996_LAX96LA250.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). 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 2019 · Conference Paper
Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
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