- Date
- May 27, 2015, 02:00 local (10:00 UTC)
- Place
- Palmer, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N84116Aeronca 7EC
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report August 11, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Case key
- 91251
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The instructor's delayed remedial actions, and the student pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in a stall just above the ground and the subsequent hard landing.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot and his instructor were landing in a tailwheel-equipped airplane at night. The student pilot did two full stop landings on the night cross-country flight. During the first landing, the airplane stalled just above the runway, and the front left landing gear made contact with the runway first, resulting in a hard landing. The second landing was a normal, soft touchdown landing. A postflight inspection revealed that a portion of airplane's fuselage, on the left side, sustained substantial damage from the hard landing. The instructor pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot and his instructor were landing in a tailwheel-equipped airplane at night. The student pilot did two full stop landings on the night cross-country flight. During the first landing, the airplane stalled just above the runway, and the front left landing gear made contact with the runway first, resulting in a hard landing. The second landing was a normal, soft touchdown landing. A postflight inspection revealed that a portion of airplane's fuselage, on the left side, sustained substantial damage from the hard landing. The instructor pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N84116
- Reported as
- Aeronca 7EC (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-2804
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 4,581.2
- Engine
- Continental C90-F12, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Above Alaska Aviation
- Registered owner
- Aspenglow LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 11, 2015
- Departed
- PATK · Talkeenta, AK
- Destination
- PAAQ · Palmer, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- PAAQ · Palmer Airport, runway 16, 6,000 × 100 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private, Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 30, 2014
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 4,500 total · 200 in this make and model · 4,400 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 19
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 50 total · 42 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.28 inHg
- Observed at
- PAAQ
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 28, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.0 MB in all.