- Date
- June 13, 2009, 08:30 local (12:30 UTC)
- Place
- West Chester, PA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N659PSDiamond Aircraft Ind DA 40
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 9, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20090613009959A
- Case key
- 74032
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 recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s inadequate remedial action.
Findings · 3
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 certificated flight instructor and his student remained in the airport traffic pattern to practice several full-stop landings. While on approach the student flared high and the airplane dropped 8 to 10 feet, contacting the 3,375-foot-long by 50-foot-wide runway and then bouncing back into the air. While the pilot initiated a go-around, the airplane drifted left of the runway and the airplane's left wing impacted trees. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wing spar and came to rest on the edge of the runway. Neither the flight instructor nor the student reported any mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane.
Factual narrative
The certificated flight instructor and his student remained in the airport traffic pattern to practice several full-stop landings. While on approach, the student flared high and the airplane dropped 8 to 10 feet contacted the 3,375-foot-long by 50-foot-wide runway, and then bounced back into the air. While initiating a go-around, the airplane drifted left of the runway, and the airplane's left wing impacted trees. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wing spar, and came to rest on the edge of the runway. Neither the flight instructor nor the student reported any mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N659PS
- Reported as
- Diamond Aircraft Ind DA 40
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 40.659
- Airframe hours
- 89
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-MIA+, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 9, 2008
- Departed
- OQN · West Chester, PA
- Destination
- OQN · West Chester, PA
- Airport
- OQN · Brandywine, runway 09, 3,347 × 50 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2008
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 10,000 total · 12 in this make and model
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 53 total · 19 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KMQS, 13 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 24, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.2 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.