- Date
- September 18, 2021, 14:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Birchwood, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N35408Cessna 172R
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards
- Case key
- 104066
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 flight instructor’s inadequate supervision of the student pilot, and student pilot’s improper landing flare, resulting in a hard landing.
Findings · 3
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
According to the flight instructor, the student pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings at the time of the accident. He reported that the student pilot completed 4 takeoffs and landings with the tendency to initiate the landing flare “a little early” and the airplane “came down a little harder” than expected. On the following landing, the instructor decided to tell the student when to start the landing flare. The approach was stabilized, but when he instructed the student to begin to flare, the student “pulled back on the yoke hard” which he had not done before. The airplane pitched “way up” and started to drift off the runway. The flight instructor assumed control, but the airplane “landed extremely hard.” The student pilot noted that he pulled back on the control wheel “too quickly and too hard.” They taxied off the runway to inspect the airplane. Observing no obvious damage, they returned to their home airport with no further difficulties. He subsequently reported the event to the flight club chief pilot and mechanic. Neither pilot reported any anomalies with respect to the airplane. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed damage to the lower fuselage aft of the nose landing gear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35408
- Reported as
- Cessna 172R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17281081
- Built
- 2001
- Airframe hours
- 6,310
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Elmendorf Aero Club
- Registered owner
- Elmendorf Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 23, 2021 · 29 hours before
- Departed
- PAED · Jber, AK
- Destination
- PABV · Birchwood, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- PABV · Birchwood, runway 20R, 4,010 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 25, 2021
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 376 total · 56 in this make and model · 263 as pilot in command · 35 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 12 total · 12 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.61 inHg
- Observed at
- PABV, 1 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.0 MB in all.
Other investigations on N35408 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.