Cessna 180K N37MD

Summary

On 31 December 2008 at about 19:30 local time, a Cessna 180K registered N37MD, operated by Andrew G. Spaulding, was involved in an accident near Port Orange, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 December 2008 at 19:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Port Orange, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Spruce Creek Airport (7FL6)

Coordinates

29.0803, -81.0467

Aircraft

Cessna 180K

Registration

N37MD

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Andrew G. Spaulding

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Port Orange → Port Orange

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA09CA127

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions during landing. Contributing to the accident were the gusting wind conditions and the pilot's lack of experience in the make and model airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot, who recently acquired the airplane, was receiving instruction for insurance purposes. After performing some airwork, the pilot returned to the traffic pattern for landing practice and joined a left downwind leg for runway 23. On short final, he lowered flaps to 40 degrees and the airplane slowed to 60 knots. At 15 feet above ground level, the airplane "came down hard" on the runway numbers. The left and right main landing gear failed and the airplane received structural damage to the lower fuselage. The pilot reported that the winds at the time of the accident were from 235 degrees at 10 knots, with gusts to 15 knots. He also reported that windshear occurred and they were unable to react quickly enough to prevent the hard landing. The reported wind at a nearby airport about the time of the accident was from 280 degrees at 15 knots. The pilot reported total flight experience of 1,354 hours, of which 3 hours were in the same make and model as the accident airplane and 3 hours were flown during the 90-day period preceding the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.