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SEA07CA230

2007-08-12 · San Diego, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SEE

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's inadequate compensation for a wind gust that ballooned the airplane during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. A contributing factor was the wind gust.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, the landing approach to runway 27R was normal. He asked the local controller for the winds and was told they were from 260 degrees at 7 knots with no reported wind gusts. He flared the airplane for a touchdown in "a three point landing attitude." As expected, he heard the stall warning horn go off, felt the tail wheel begin to touch the runway and was expecting the main gear wheels to touch when he "felt the airplane quickly surge up and then slam down." The pilot reported that "it felt like a gust of wind lifted the airplane at the last moment." The airplane "stalled" at an altitude of 8 to 10 feet above the runway and struck the ground "extremely hard." According to the pilot, the landing approach to runway 27R was normal. He asked the local controller for the winds and was told they were from 260 degrees at 7 knots with no reported wind gusts. He flared the airplane for a touchdown in "a three point landing attitude." As expected, he heard the stall warning horn go off, felt the tail wheel begin to touch the runway and was expecting the main gear wheels to touch when he "felt the airplane quickly surge up and then slam down." The pilot reported that "it felt like a gust of wind lifted the airplane at the last moment." The airplane "stalled" at an altitude of 8 to 10 feet above the runway and struck the ground "extremely hard." Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2007_SEA07CA230.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers