Accident Cessna 208B Grand Caravan N895SF,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 319331

Date:	Friday 20 September 2019
Time:	12:30
Type:	Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
Owner/operator:	private
Registration:	N895SF
MSN:	208B0095
Year of manufacture:	1988
Total airframe hrs:	18426 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Substantial, repaired
Category:	Accident
Location:	Pepperell Airport, MA - United States of America
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Parachuting
Departure airport:	Pepperell Airport, MA
Destination airport:	Pepperell Airport, MA
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The Cessna 208B, N895SF, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at Pepperell Airport (26MA), Massachusetts, USA. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was privately owned and operated as a skydiving flight.
According to the pilot, he was flying 10 skydivers and one passenger up to an altitude of 10,500 feet mean sea level. After the skydivers departed the airplane, the pilot returned to the airport and made a normal approach to land on runway 24. When the airplane was about 10-15 feet above the runway, he thought he encountered a sudden downdraft and the airplane just "dropped" out of the air and landed hard on the grass runway. The nose landing gear fractured off as the airplane slid to the right side of the runway and crossed the asphalt parallel runway. The airplane then contacted a small tree on the right wing that spun the airplane around. The left wing then contacted the ground and bent the last three feet of the wing tip up. The pilot stated there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane at the time of the accident.

Probable Cause: "The pilot's loss of control when the airplane encountered a downdraft during landing approach, which resulted in a subsequent hard landing and gear collapse."

Accident investigation: