Cessna 182E N3229Y accident near Martinsville, Indiana

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to attain the proper touchdown point during landing and his delay in initiating a successful go-around, which resulted in a loss of airspeed and an aerodynamic stall.

NTSB analysis

During the landing at a private airport, the pilot "landed long to avoid [a] dip in the field..." With the flaps positioned at 30 degrees, the airplane landed on the grass runway (2,000 feet long by 90 feet wide). The pilot felt that the airspeed was too fast to stop and he aborted the landing and attempted to execute a go-around. He retracted the flaps and applied full engine power. He "jumped the airplane off the grass" and tried to get the airplane to clear power lines. The airplane stalled and the left wing impacted another set of power lines. The airplane impacted several vehicles in a used car parking lot and came to rest on top of three vehicles. The pilot sustained serious injuries; the passenger and a person on the ground sustained minor injuries. The pilot indicated that he should have touched down sooner "or make [the] go-around decision if that is not possible on short fields like this one..."

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN09CA317 for the full record.