- Date
- June 12, 2020, 16:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Reedsburg, WI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N738VYCessna 172
- Defining event
- Landing: 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
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20200612022129A
- Case key
- 101523
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 a hard, 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
The student pilot was conducting his third solo flight. He took off for a short local flight and subsequently returned to the departure airport to land. During the final approach, the student pilot stated he set 30° of flaps and was "carrying a little more airspeed than he likely should have." As he leveled out over the runway, the nose dropped before he began to flare, and the airplane began to porpoise. After three hard bounces, he was able to settle the airplane onto the runway. He taxied the airplane back to the hangar and noticed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the firewall and forward fuselage. The student pilot reported there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precludded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N738VY
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (N)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17270283
- Built
- 1978
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- RPM Aero
- Registered owner
- RPM Aero
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- C35 · Reedsburg, WI
- Destination
- C35 · Reedsburg, WI
- Airport
- C35 · Reedsburg Muni, runway 36, 4,840 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 80 total · 70 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 15 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.22 inHg
- Observed at
- KDLL, 9 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.1 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.