- Date
- April 4, 2010, 16:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Winter Haven, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4655XCessna 150G
- 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
- 20100404031319A
- Case key
- 75689
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 in gusting winds.
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 completed his first solo flight the day prior to the accident. On the day of the accident, the student pilot was completing another solo flight in the traffic pattern. During his third landing on runway 5, the airplane bounced once, then landed again and collapsed the nose landing gear. The airplane came to rest on the runway and sustained damage to the firewall. No mechanical malfunctions or failures were reported by the student pilot. The recorded wind at the airport, about the time of the accident, was from 040 degrees at 4 knots, gusting to 16 knots.
Factual narrative
The student pilot completed his first solo flight during the day prior to the accident. On the day of the accident, the student pilot was completing another solo flight in the traffic pattern. During his third landing on runway 5, the airplane bounced once, then landed again and collapsed the nose landing gear. The airplane came to rest on the runway and sustained damage to the firewall. No mechanical malfunctions or failures were reported by the student pilot. The recorded wind at the airport, about the time of the accident, was from 040 degrees at 4 knots, gusting to 16 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4655X
- Reported as
- Cessna 150G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15064705
- Airframe hours
- 7,186
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-200 SERIES, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Tailwheels Etc Inc.
- Registered owner
- 55xray Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 21, 2010
- Departed
- GIF · Winter Haven, FL
- Destination
- GIF · Winter Haven, FL
- Airport
- GIF · Winter Haven's Gilbert Airport, runway 05, 5,005 × 100 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 54
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 34 total · 34 in this make and model · 4 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 4 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.13 inHg
- Observed at
- GIF
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 6, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N4655X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.