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Atlas / NTSB / WPR11CA489

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR11CA489

2011-05-07 Grants Pass, Oregon, United States Airport · 3S8 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N8287X

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172C

Year of manufacture

1961 · 50 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-300 SER (145 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19611024

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AB51F6

Registrant of record

MCKEEVER JESSE M

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed on approach, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The student pilot stated that he was practicing short field landings and configured the airplane with full flaps on the approach. The student pilot reduced power too early for the airplane configuration, which caused a loss of airspeed and a subsequent hard landing. During annual maintenance, a mechanic noted that the firewall was bent. The student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The student pilot stated that he was practicing short field landings and configured the airplane with full flaps on the approach. The student pilot reduced power too early for the airplane configuration, which caused a loss of airspeed and a subsequent hard landing. During subsequent annual maintenance, a mechanic noted that the firewall was bent. The student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft power plant-Engine controls-Power lever-Incorrect use/operation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2011_WPR11CA489.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, maintenance). 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 ↗