- Date
- February 6, 2025, 14:10 local (20:10 UTC)
- Place
- Waco, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N798SPCessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 18, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration - North Texas FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250206013019A
- Case key
- 199693
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 inadequate landing flare that led to a bounced landing, and her improper pitch control during the attempted recovery that resulted in a nose down pitch attitude upon the second touchdown.
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 reported that while conducting a solo flight she initially flared too high over the runway, but she decreased airplane pitch and continued with the landing. When she flared a second time, she did not use enough aft elevator input and the airplane landed flat, bounced, and then landed on the nose landing gear. After coming to a full stop, she notified the tower that she was unable to taxi, shutdown the engine, and exited the airplane at which point she saw that the propeller had struck the runway during the landing. Additional examination of the airframe revealed buckling of the lower fuselage structure. The chief pilot of the flight school reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N798SP
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S8722
- Built
- 2001
- Airframe hours
- 15,874
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Texas State Technical College
- Registered owner
- Texas State Technical College
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 24, 2025 · 18 hours before
- Departed
- CNW · Waco, TX
- Destination
- CNW · Waco, TX
- Airport
- CNW · Texas State Tech College Waco Airport, runway 17L, 8,600 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, 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
- 18
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 51 total · 51 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 24 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- CNW
- METAR
- KCNW 061955Z 19008KT 10SM CLR 27/17 A2995
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 18, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.6 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.