Cessna 182F N3322U

Summary

On 30 March 2024 at about 18:10 local time, a Cessna 182F registered N3322U was involved in an accident near Ben Wheeler, Texas, United States. One person was 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

30 March 2024 at 18:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Ben Wheeler, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Vaca Moo Airport (TA37)

Coordinates

32.4282, -95.7111

Aircraft

Cessna 182F

Registration

N3322U

Category

Airplane

Year built

1963

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ben Wheeler → Ben Wheeler

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN24LA142

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain control while landing in a gusting wind.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was performing a practice soft field landing on a grass runway. During the landing flare, the wind increased, the airplane drifted to the left, and the indicated airspeed decreased by 10 mph. The pilot attempted to correct for the deviation when the airplane developed an excessive sink rate and landed hard on the sand adjacent to the left edge of the runway. The nose landing gear and propeller dug into the sand, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the left aileron, the rudder, the vertical stabilizer, and the right wing strut. Wind at the time of the accident was 210° at 11 knots gusting to 17 knots. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.