St Charles Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

St Charles, Missouri 63301
Sunday, October 8, 2006 14:30 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted the runway during landing. The pilot reported that he entered a right downwind for runway 27. Upon turning final, he realized that the airplane was high. He corrected by increasing the flap setting to 30 degrees and reducing power in order to descend "a little quicker." He stated, "As I came over the threshold, I realized I was coming down too fast, but still felt I was OK. In the last seconds, I realized I was in trouble. The force with which we hit the runway was much harder than I expected." The airplane bounced upon contact with the runway. The pilot noted, "I thought it would bounce and then settle down. When it porpoised, I failed to take action to correct it, resulting in the wreck."

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to properly judge the landing flare and his inadequate recovery from the resulting bounced landing. A contributing factor was the inadvertent pilot induced oscillation (porpoise) after initial runway contact.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/8/2006
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1430
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City St Charles
Event State MISSOURI
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 63301
Event Date Year 2006
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 385055N
Event Location Longitude 0903000W
Event Location Airport St Charles
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 3SQ
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1451 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 135
Weather Observation Facility ID STL
Elevation of weather observation facility 618
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 9
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 7000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 30
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 11
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 260
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.02
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report METAR KSTL 081951Z 26005KT 10SM FEW070 SCT120 30/1
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 22360
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Oct 10 2006 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Nov 29 2007 8:02AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office FAA-St Louis FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N4775D
NTSB Number CHI07CA004
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model 172N
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 17272357
Certified Max Gross Weight --
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 4
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name St Charles Flying Service Inc
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City St. Charles
Aircraft Owner State MO
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 63301
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name --
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address --
Operator City --
Operator State --
Operator Country --
Operator Zip code --
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Personal
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code 3SQ
Departure City St Charles
Departure State MO
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1330
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code --
Destination City --
Destination State --
Destination Country --
Specific Phase of Flight Landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Oct 20 2006 4:14PM
User who most recently changed record DINC
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 27
Runway Length 3451
Runway Width 49
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --