- Date
- October 25, 2011, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lebanon, OH
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N93415Engineering & Research 415-C
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 18, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA - Cleveland FSDO
- FAA report
- 20111025024979A
- Case key
- 82189
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 pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a 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 pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings with a flight instructor. The instructor reported that, upon landing when the airplane was about 2 feet above the runway, the pilot made a down elevator input because he believed that the airplane had ballooned. The instructor stated that he had been guarding the flight controls and he immediately corrected by inputting up elevator, but the airplane impacted the runway in a flat attitude. A postaccident examination revealed that the airplane's firewall was buckled.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he was practicing take-offs and landings with an instructor during the accident flight. He stated that on the final landing, he crossed the runway numbers and made a hard landing. The flight instructor reported that when the airplane was about 2 feet above the runway the pilot made a down elevator input because he believed that the airplane had ballooned. The flight instructor stated that he had been guarding the flight controls and he immediately corrected by inputting up elevator, but the airplane impacted the runway in a flat attitude. Subsequent to the hard landing it was found that the airplane's firewall was buckled.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N93415
- Reported as
- Engineering & Research 415-C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 738
- Airframe hours
- 1,661
- Engine
- Cont Motor C85-12F, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 26, 2011
- Departed
- I19 · Xenia, OH
- Destination
- I19 · Xenia, OH
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- I68 · Lebanon-Warren County Airport, runway 19, 4,502 × 65 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
- 74
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- August 10, 2010
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 160 total · 11 in this make and model · 129 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8,500 total · 100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Observed at
- I68
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 8, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 814 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N93415 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.