- Date
- March 31, 2020, 18:44 local (23:44 UTC)
- Place
- Omaha, NE
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9468WPiper PA-28-235C
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 29, 2020
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20200331003969A
- Case key
- 101140
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 landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing, subsequent loss of directional control, and the airplane going down an embankment.
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
The student pilot reported that, during landing following his third solo cross-country flight, the airplane touched down and then bounced. The right wing dropped, and the right main landing gear touched down, followed by the nose landing gear. The airplane turned hard to the left, but the airplane was too close to the runway edge to turn and remain on the runway, so the student applied maximum braking and raised the nose to try to slow the airplane. The airplane went down an embankment at an angle, the left wing struck the ground and separated from the fuselage, and the nose landing gear bent aft, which bent the engine mounts and buckled the firewall. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was returning from his third solo cross country flight. He made a stop-and-go and a touch-and-go landing at another airport, then returned to his home base and landed on runway 12. The wind was from 180° at 6 knots with variable gusts. The airplane touched down and bounced. The right wing dropped and the right main landing gear touched down, followed by the nose landing gear. The airplane turned hard to the left but the airplane was too close to the runway edge to turn and remain on the runway so the pilot applied maximum braking and raised the nose to try and slow the airplane down. The airplane went down an 8 to 10 ft embankment at an angle. At the bottom of the embankment the left wing struck the ground and it separated from the fuselage, and the nose landing gear bent aft which bent the engine mounts and buckled the firewall. There were no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9468W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-235C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-11193
- Built
- 1969
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-B4B5, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- OLU · Columbus, NE
- Destination
- MLE · Omaha, NE
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- MLE · Millard, runway 12, 3,801 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 31, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 18 in this make and model · 4 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 6 knots, gusting 12
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 28.77 inHg
- Observed at
- MLE
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 24, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 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.