- Date
- August 24, 2020, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Willoughby, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N94589Cessna 152
- 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 FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200824017049A
- Case key
- 101885
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 that resulted in a porpoise and collapsed nose landing gear.
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 enroute on a solo flight to meet a designated pilot examiner for a check ride for his private pilot certificate. During the landing flare the airplane began to float. The student pilot tried to correct, and the airplane began to porpoise. During the impact with the runway, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the propeller struck the runway surface. Inspection of the airplane revealed that the firewall sustained substantial damage, and the tubular steel mounts impinged the flight controls.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N94589
- Reported as
- Cessna 152 (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15285740
- Built
- 1983
- Airframe hours
- 10,420
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235 SERIES, 180 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Haverlock Aircraft LLC
- Registered owner
- Haverlock Aircraft LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 9, 2020
- Departed
- BKL · Cleveland, OH
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- LNN · Lake County Executive, runway 23, 5,028 × 100 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 30
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 73 total · 73 in this make and model · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Observed at
- LNN
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 16, 2021, 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.