- Date
- March 30, 2010, 16:10 local (20:10 UTC)
- Place
- Sarasota, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N21394Cessna 172
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20100330036599A
- Case key
- 75620
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 recovery from a bounced landing.
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
According to the student pilot, he was on his first solo cross-country flight but decided to return to his departure airport as he was uncomfortable with the winds. On landing, the airplane bounced and the nose landing gear collapsed. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane. A left-quartering headwind at 12 knots was present at the time of the accident.
Factual narrative
According to the student pilot, he was on his first solo cross-country flight, but decided to return to his departure airport as he was uncomfortable with the winds. On landing, the airplane bounced and the nose landing gear collapsed. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane. A left-quartering headwind at 12 knots was present at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N21394
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (S)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10449
- Airframe hours
- 1,620
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Cirrus Aviation
- Registered owner
- Long Island Aviators LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 4, 2010
- Departed
- SRQ · Sarasota, FL
- Destination
- SRQ · Sarasota, FL
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- SRQ · Sarasota/Bradenton Internation, runway 32, 9,500 × 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 42
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 47 total · 47 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- SRQ
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 10, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 701 KB 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.