- Date
- August 8, 2020, 17:40 local (23:40 UTC)
- Place
- Englewood, CO · On Airport
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N79110Cessna 172
- 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
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Adminstration - Denver FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200808018529A
- Case key
- 101803
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 misjudged the landing flare which resulted in a loss of control and 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 on a local solo flight when he misjudged the landing flare and the airplane ballooned before it landed hard on the runway. The student pilot stated that the airplane bounced at least 3 times, with each subsequent bounce harder than the previous bounce. The student pilot reported that he eventually lost directional control of the airplane before it came to a stop in the grass area beside the runway. The airplane’s lower fuselage structure was buckled resulting in substantial damage. The student pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N79110
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (N)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17268131
- Built
- 1976
- Airframe hours
- 5,231.2
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Aspen Flying Club
- Registered owner
- R&F Enterprises LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 7, 2020
- Airport
- APA · Centennial Airport, runway 17R, 7,001 × 75 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 18
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 21 total · 19 in this make and model · 21 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- APA
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 21, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 9.5 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.