- Date
- June 30, 2010, 12:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Chesapeake, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6064RCessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20100630043179A
- Case key
- 76655
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
A hard landing by person(s)unknown.
Findings · 1
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
During a preflight inspection of the airplane, a certificated flight instructor discovered substantial damage to the underside of the fuselage and reported it to the flight school. Upon further examination, substantial damage to the firewall was also found. Two days before the damage was discovered, the accident airplane underwent a routine phase inspection. The maintenance personnel who examined the airplane for the phase inspection did not report any damage at that time. According to flight school records, there were three flights between the maintenance inspection and the damage report. The first two flights, which occurred later on the same day as the phase inspection, were dual-instructional flights. The third flight, which occurred the next day, and the day before the damage was discovered, was a student pilot solo cross country flight. Interviews conducted by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors with the pilots of those flights failed to reveal who was responsible for the damage, when or where it occurred, or how it was caused. Also unknown, is why the student pilot did not observe the damage prior to his solo flight.
Factual narrative
During a preflight inspection of the airplane, a certificated flight instructor discovered substantial damage to the underside of the fuselage and reported it to the flight school. Upon further examination, substantial damage to the firewall was also found. Two days before the damage was discovered, the accident airplane underwent a routine phase inspection. The maintenance personnel who examined the airplane for the phase inspection did not report any damage at that time. According to flight school records, there were three flights between the maintenance inspection and the damage report. The first two flights, which occurred later on the same day as the phase inspection, were dual-instructional flights. The third flight, which occurred the next day, and the day before the damage was discovered, was a student pilot solo cross country flight. Interviews conducted by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors with the pilots of those flights failed to reveal who was responsible for the damage, when or where it occurred, or how it was caused. Also unknown, is why the student pilot did not observe the damage prior to his solo flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6064R
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10246
- Airframe hours
- 969
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Horizon Flight Center
- Registered owner
- B & K Air LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · June 28, 2010
- Departed
- CPK · Chesapeake, VA
- Destination
- CPK · Chesapeake, VA
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- CPK · Chesapeake Regional Airport, runway 05
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
- Other flight crew
- Age
- 1
- Medical
- Unknown
- Flight hours
- 0 total · 0 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 11
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 22, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 982 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.