20240425004679A

On April 25th, 2024, at approximately 18:40 a Cessna 170B, attempted to land at tri cites, Endicott airport (czg) and sustained substantial damage because of the landing. The weather was VFR and the wind was 8MPH nw. The flight was from zelienople pa to albany NY. The pilot has limited experience, with a total of 178 total flight hours and 10 hours in this type of aircraft. This includes 18 hours of flight time and training in an Aeronca champion tail-dragging aircraft. The pilot, who just purchased this aircraft, lacked familiarity with the aircraft was uncertain if the fuel quantity indicators were accurate. He wanted to land to physically check the fuel quantity. The pilot approached runway 3 with a 45-degree entry on the left downwind. Due to a hill adjacent to the airport, he decided to switch to a left base entry. He admitted that he was unfamiliar with this airport and felt uneasy having the hill in his visual approach. Upon entering the approach and during the subsequent landing attempt, according to the pilot's statements his approach was too high and too fast. Instead of aborting the landing and circling around for another attempt, he tried to land the aircraft. The aircraft bounced several times on the runway. The pilot made several flight control inputs but consequently, he couldn't slow down or align the aircraft properly for a safe landing. At this point, the pilot attempted a go-around. He made a sharp left bank and again made several flight control inputs but was unable to gain control or altitude. He banked left again to avoid two hangars and then made a hard landing in a nearby field, coming to rest in the trees.