- Date
- June 12, 2007, 12:45 local (17:45 UTC)
- Place
- Katy, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4260LCessna 172G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 25, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Houston, Texas
- Case key
- 66018
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 flare and his failure to recover from a bounced landing.
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 airplane landed hard, bounced, encountered porpoise, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The 43-hour student pilot reported that he was returning from his first solo cross-country flight. He added that while landing on runway 16, which was reported to be 7,000-foot long, by 150-foot wide, he misjudged the height of the airplane above the runway and the airplane stalled at dropped-in from a height of 10-feet. After the initial bounce, the aircraft began to porpoise, and the nose landing gear collapsed after the second bounce. The pilot attempted to taxi the airplane off the active runway. According to the Federal Aviation Administration inspector, who responded to the accident, the engine firewall sustained structural damage. The impact also fractured the nose gear assembly and buckled the engine firewall. The pilot was uninjured and was able to egress from the airplane unassisted. At the time of the accident, the on-field weather observation station reported the wind from 170 degree at 4 knots.
Factual narrative
The airplane landed hard, bounced, encountered porpoise, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The 43-hour student pilot reported that he was returning from his first solo cross-country flight. He added that while landing on runway 16, which was reported to be 7,000-foot long, by 150-foot wide, he misjudged the height of the airplane above the runway and the airplane stalled at dropped-in from a height of 10-feet. After the initial bounce, the aircraft began to porpoise, and the nose landing gear collapsed after the second bounce. The pilot attempted to taxi the airplane off the active runway. According to the Federal Aviation Administration inspector, who responded to the accident, the engine firewall sustained structural damage. The impact also fractured the nose gear assembly and buckled the engine firewall. The pilot was uninjured and was able to egress from the airplane unassisted. At the time of the accident, the on-field weather observation station reported the wind from 170 degree at 4 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4260L
- Reported as
- Cessna 172G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17254329
- Engine
- Continental 0-300 SER, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- 4260L Corporation
- Registered owner
- 4260L Corporation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 27XS · Brookshire, TX
- Destination
- CLL · Katy, TX
- Airport
- CLL · Easterwood Field Airpot, runway 16, 7,000 × 150 ft, concrete
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
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 43 total · 43 in this make and model · 29 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CLL