Amateur-built VANS AIRCRAFT RV-7A N65RW accident near Williamsburg, Virginia

Probable cause

The pilot’s decision to continue with an unstabilized approach which resulted in a hard landing and loss of directional control during a subsequent landing.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was attempting to land on a 60-ft-wide runway with a 10 to 15 knot left crosswind. He described that he was too high on the approach and made an aggressive right-wing low forward slip to lose altitude. While transitioning to complete the crosswind landing, the pilot misjudged his height above the runway and landed hard, damaging the nose landing gear. The airplane began to veer off the runway and the pilot aborted the landing. On the next landing, when the damaged nose landing gear touched down, the airplane veered off the runway, impacted a trench, and nosed over resulting in substantial damage to the right wing, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. Following the accident, the pilot stated that he should have gone around on the first landing attempt since he was not stabilized on the approach. He also reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA24LA381 for the full record.