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WPR20CA302

2020-09-08 · Snohomish, Washington, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport S43

Current FAA registration · N946SF

Make / Model
CESSNA 152
Year of manufacture
1978 · 42 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-235 SERIES (115 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19780914
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD2508

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The solo student pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing and his subsequent improper go-around, which resulted in an impact with terrain.

Factual narrative

The solo student pilot reported that during landing, upon touchdown, the airplane bounced. The student’s flight instructor, who was at a radio, instructed him to go around so the student pilot increased the engine power, maintained the flaps at 30º, and the airplane drifted left of runway centerline. As the student pilot reached about 10 ft above the ground in a nose up attitude, the flight instructor radioed him again to “pitch down.” The student pilot then lowered the nose, but the airplane continued to drift left, impacted the adjacent grass field, and came to rest nose down. The engine truss sustained substantial damage. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Student/instructed pilot
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Student/instructed pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_WPR20CA302.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 (go-around). All research papers