Skip to content

WPR20CA192

2020-06-23 · Rochester, Washington, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 8W9

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed while on final approach in turbulent conditions, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and subsequent hard landing.

Factual narrative

The student pilot reported that while on final approach for landing, he encountered turbulence. After traveling out from behind trees, he encountered a strong upward force on the right wing which pushed the aircraft to the left and increased altitude about 20 ft. The pilot reported that the aircraft stalled, and he did not increase power fast enough to recover from the stall before the airplane landed hard which substantially damaged the wing frame. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the aircraft that would have precluded normal operation. The student pilot reported that while on final approach for landing he encountered turbulence. After traveling out from behind trees near the runway, he encountered a strong upward force on the right wing which pushed the aircraft to the left and increased altitude about 20 ft. The pilot reported that the aircraft stalled, and he did not increase power fast enough to recover from the stall before the airplane landed hard, which substantially damaged the wing frame. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the aircraft that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-(general)-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_WPR20CA192.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.

Related research

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