- Date
- August 9, 2016, 09:15 local (14:15 UTC)
- Place
- Arlington, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N544SPCessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 12, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA North Texas FSDO
- FAA report
- 20160809016409A
- Case key
- 93823
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 student pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing.
Findings · 2
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
During a full-stop landing to the 100 foot wide paved runway the airplane hit "very hard and bounced to a very high level". The student pilot did not execute a go-around and reported that on the second touchdown "he tried to hold it off again", but the operating propeller struck the runway surface and the airplane bounced a second time. On the third touchdown the nose gear collapsed, directional control was lost, and the airplane exited the left side of the runway. After digging into the grass the nose gear completely separated resulting in substantial damage to the firewall and the forward fuselage. The student pilot and the operator reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures.
Factual narrative
During a full-stop landing to the 100 foot wide paved runway the airplane hit "very hard and bounced to a very high level". The student pilot did not execute a go-around and reported that on the second touchdown "he tried to hold it off again", but the operating propeller struck the runway surface and the airplane bounced a second time. On the third touchdown the nose gear collapsed, directional control was lost, and the airplane exited the left side of the runway. After digging into the grass the nose gear completely separated resulting in substantial damage to the firewall and the forward fuselage. The student pilot and the operator reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N544SP
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S8399
- Built
- 2000
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Skymates Inc, doing business as Skymates Inc
- Registered owner
- Skymates Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Departed
- GKY · Arlington, TX
- Destination
- GKY · Arlington, TX
- Airport
- GKY · Arlington Muni, runway 16, 6,080 × 100 ft, concrete
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Observed at
- KGKY
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 25, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.6 MB 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.