Amateur-built STOL CH-701 N701BZ accident near Snohomish, Washington

Probable cause

The pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a stall and a hard landing.

NTSB analysis

The sport pilot reported that he was relocating the experimental amateur-built airplane to his short home airstrip, which was bordered by trees, grapevines, and a pond. He performed three precautionary approaches to the runway in order to assess the wind conditions, and on the final approach elected to land. The airplane made contact with the runway short of his intended touchdown point; it landed hard and bounced, collapsing the nose landing gear. He said he flared the airplane early, prior to touchdown, and it subsequently stalled about 5 feet above the ground. The pilot was not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and left wing spar during the accident sequence. The accident flight was the first time he had landed at the airstrip.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR11LA405 for the full record.