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WPR25LA287

2025-09-13 · Cave Junction, Oregon, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 3S4

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The non-certificated pilot's improper landing flare in turbulent wind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The non-certificated pilot reported that, during his first flight in the recently purchased airplane, he encountered turbulence on the base and final legs of the airport traffic pattern. While on the final approach to land, the airplane encountered a gust of wind that resulted in a hard landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage and lift struts. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident he was landing on runway 36 with wind variable at 5 knots, gusting to 10 knots. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-(general)-Effect on operation
  • — Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Qualification/certification-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_WPR25LA287.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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