NTSB WPR25LA242 — 2025-07-31 · Moriarty, New Mexico, United States

Current FAA registration · N50778

Make / Model: CHAMPION 7FC
Year of manufacture: 1961 · 64 years old at event
Engine: CONT MOTOR C90-12F (95 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20070410
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A6575F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N50778 Champion 7FC None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported he was practicing landings and he intentionally flew slow on the approach to landing. The pilot said that during the landing flare, he forgot to focus on the horizon, and the airplane was high, and it stalled. Subsequently the airplane landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The 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.

— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
— Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_WPR25LA242.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 (icing, stall). All research papers