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MIA91LA133 · Cessna 150L

2 May 1991 · Lake Wales, FL, United States

Cessna 150L · Accident: on ground/water encounter with weather during landing

From Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB) to Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA91LA133
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Cessna 150L

Aircraft type
Cessna 150
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N5829L
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), Melbourne, FLTo Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF), Winter Haven, FL
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Landing · landing roll
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
On ground/water encounter with weather
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall/mush
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Airport personnel › Other airport/runway maintenance, not performed
  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
  • Wind information › Inaccurate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

DURING THE LAST LEG OF A LONG CROSS-COUNTRY FLT, THE STUDENT PLT ELECTED TO DIVERT TO A NEARBY ARPT TO PERFORM SEVERAL TOUCH-&-GO LANDINGS. HE TRANSMITTED ON THE UNICOM FREQUENCY FOR AN ARPT ADVISORY BUT RECEIVED NO REPLY. HE FLEW OVER THE ARPT AT 1,500 FT TO OBSERVE THE WINDSOCK WHICH INDICATED THAT THE WIND WAS FAVORING RWY 24. HE ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN TO LAND & STATED THAT THE ACFT FLOATED DURING THE FLARE. AFTER TOUCHDOWN THE ACFT VEERED TO THE RT & THE PLT APPLIED POWER TO GO-AROUND. THE ACFT THEN VEERED TO THE LT, TOUCHED DOWN WITH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE ACFT PERPENDICULAR TO THE RWY CENTERLINE, DURING WHICH THE NOSE LANDING GEAR SEPARATED FROM THE ACFT. THE ACFT THEN CAME TO REST. POSTACCIDENT EXAM OF THE ARPT BY AN FAA INSPECTOR REVEALED THAT THE WINDSOCK WAS IN A TOTAL STATE OF DISREPAIR. IT WAS LATER LEARNED THAT THE PLT LANDED WITH AN APRX 8 KT WIND AT 080 DEGREES.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF AIRPORT PERSONNEL TO PERFORM AIRPORT MAINTENANCE WHICH RESULTED IN INACCURATE WIND INFORMATION DUE TO A DETERIORATED WINDSOCK, AND FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING THE LANDING ROLL WITH A TAIL WIND. ALSO, INADVERTENT STALL/MUSH BY THE PILOT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE OF THE STUDENT PILOT AND HIS ATTEMPT TO GO-AROUND AFTER THE LOSS OF CONTROL DURING THE LANDING ROLL.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA91LA133
Event ID
20001212X17065
Case number
MIA91LA133
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 41ec48fd4ec997c15308f6d38e15800252a6426c09ad13c340f1495ea643187d; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:14:47.213Z.