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Atlas / NTSB / WPR24LA152

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR24LA152

2024-05-10 Three Forks, Montana, United States Airport · 9S5 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2388X

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 182H

Year of manufacture

1965 · 59 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19650426

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A229BE

Registrant of record

SEILER RICHARD

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection, which resulted in an attempted departure with the flight control lock device installed, and subsequent nose landing gear collapse.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that shortly after liftoff, the airplane pitched down unexpectedly and bounced on the runway. The pilot realized the control lock device was still installed but was unable to remove it before the aircraft impacted the runway firmly enough to collapse the nose gear. The pilot reported that due to the installation of new avionics, he modified the original flight control lock device, and it no longer covered the ignition switch. During the preflight inspection, he failed to remove the modified flight control lock. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions 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).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Flight control system-Gust lock or damper-Incorrect use/operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2024_WPR24LA152.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 (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.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗