SEA01TA152 · WSK PZL Mielec M-18 Dromader
USDA Forest Service WSK PZL Mielec M-18 Dromader · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing
From Ukiah, OR to Ukiah, OR
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA01TA152
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
- 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
WSK PZL Mielec M-18 Dromader
- Aircraft type
- WSK PZL Mielec M-18
- 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
- N52768
- Operator
- USDA Forest Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ukiah, ORTo Ukiah, OR
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- 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
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Recovery from bounced landing, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the flare for landing was a little high, and after the aircraft touched down, it bounced then settled to the runway. After touch down, the aircraft veered to the left and the pilot corrected with right rudder and brake application. The aircraft continued to the left toward a hill and rough terrain so he added power, and back pressure on the flight control. When the aircraft lifted off, it started to roll. The pilot reduced power and the right wing contacted the runway surface. The aircraft touched down on the main landing gear and again bounced and started to drift to the right toward a barn. To avoid a collision with the barn, the pilot again added power and started a left turn. At this time the left wing collided with a fence. The aircraft descended to the ground in a nose down attitude. After ground contact, the aircraft spun around twice before coming to rest. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the aircraft at the time.
Probable cause
An inadequate recovery from a bounced landing and directional control was not maintained during landing. A high flare and a fence were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA01TA152
- Event ID
- 20010820X01730
- Case number
- SEA01TA152
- 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, coordinates. 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: 03f6fb18a7f81aa5c4fbb26af368b163ecf9dc9d4ae483aec6fd6fc9727bc08e; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:20:04.418Z.