Flight Design Gmbh CTLSi N549CT accident near White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Probable cause

The pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during the landing, which resulted in an inadvertent aerodynamic stall, a hard landing, and a nose over.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported that he was conducting touch-and-go landings. During his second approach, he reported that the airplane flew over the runway at 60 knots, he stalled the airplane too high, and the airplane impacted the runway "very hard" and bounced high. He reported that instead of executing a go-around, he tried to regain control of the airplane and after several bounces, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and firewall.

The pilot verified that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

As a safety recommendation, the pilot reported that he could have executed a go-around.

The Federal Aviation Administration has published the Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3A (2004). This handbook discusses the roundout portion when landing and states in part:

Sometimes when the airplane appears to temporarily stop moving downward, the roundout has been made too rapidly and the airplane is flying level, too high above the runway. Continuing the roundout would further reduce the airspeed, resulting in an increase in angle of attack to the critical angle. This would result in the airplane stalling and dropping hard onto the runway. To prevent this, the pitch attitude should be held constant until the airplane decelerates enough to again start descending. Then the roundout can be continued to establish the proper landing attitude. This procedure should only be used when there is adequate airspeed. It may be necessary to add a slight amount of power to keep the airspeed from decreasing excessively and to avoid losing lift too rapidly.

It is recommended that a go-around be executed any time it appears the nose must be lowered significantly or that the landing is in any other way uncertain.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN15CA036 for the full record.