SEA08CA151 · Cessna T182T
Cessna T182T · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) on approach
From Eugene Airport (KEUG) to Point Roberts Airpark (1RL)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA08CA151
- 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
- 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 T182T
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N2413M
- Operator
- David A. Smith · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eugene Airport (KEUG), Eugene, ORTo Point Roberts Airpark (1RL), Point Roberts, WA
- 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While attempting a landing, the pilot inadvertently allowed the airplane to porpoise during the landing flare. He therefore initiated a go-around, but did not clear some trees about one-quarter mile off the departure end of the runway. After impacting the trees, he was able to maintain airplane control, and subsequently executed a second approach and a full-stop landing. After the landing, the pilot realized that his first approach had been made with a tailwind of about 20 knots.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from trees during a go-around. Contributing to the accident were the pilot inadvertently allowing the airplane to porpoise during the landing flare, and the presence of a tailwind.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA08CA151
- Event ID
- 20080703X00979
- Case number
- SEA08CA151
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 040e13601a53532887a15df2d50d8a4ffda117bc29ed7df43e46e3c775d46524; retrieved 2026-09-15T09:51:26.240Z.