- Date
- September 6, 1997, 15:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Oxford, IA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N34829Cessna 177B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 4, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 10700
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 instructor pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing and his failure to maintain control of the airplane. Factors were the improper flare by the dual student and the instructor pilot's lack of familiarity with the airplane.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The private pilot was receiving a checkout in the airplane. This was the first experience both he and the instructor pilot had in this type of airplane. The private pilot was flying the airplane when it ballooned during the landing flare, and the instructor attempted to take over control. He was unable to regain control and during the resulting hard landing, the nosewheel collapsed.
Factual narrative
On September 6, 1997, at 1530 central daylight time, a Cessna 177B, N34829, flown by an instructor checking out a private pilot in the type of airplane, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing. Neither pilot reported any injuries. The instructor pilot said that the airplane porpoised on landing and came down hard on the nose landing gear. The instructional 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was on file. The local flight departed at 1400.
The instructor pilot said that the pilot getting checked out was operating the controls of the airplane during the approach. He said that during the flare, the airplane ballooned and he took the controls, but "failed to gain control." He said the airplane "stalled," bounced, and the nosewheel collapsed. Neither pilot indicated any mechanical malfunction prior to the accident.
The accident flight was the initial flight in this type of airplane for both the pilot getting checked out and the instructor pilot.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N34829
- Reported as
- Cessna 177B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17702029
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1F6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Green Castle Aero Club, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 31, 1996
- Departed
- IA24
- Airport
- IA24 · Green Castle, runway 33, 2,500 × 30 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 396 total · 31 in this make and model · 340 as pilot in command · 79 in the last 90 days · 34 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
Other investigations on N34829 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.