- Date
- April 30, 2010, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hampton, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N429FFCessna 172R
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 12, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20100430049499A
- Case key
- 77620
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 landing flare and improper recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing to the accident was the student’s decision to land with a tailwind.
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 student pilot was landing at his home airport at the conclusion of a solo cross-country flight. He stated that when he contacted the air traffic control tower he was offered the option of runway 8, which had a tailwind, or 26, which had a crosswind. He stated that he wrongly chose to land on runway 8. During the landing flare, the airplane bounced and the nose landing gear impacted the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall. The student pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane. At the time of the accident, the wind was from 230 degrees at 11 knots.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was landing at his home airport at the conclusion of a solo cross-country flight. He stated that when he contacted the air traffic control tower he was offered the option of runway 8 or 26. He chose to land on runway 8, which, "...had more of a tailwind at the time" and that in hindsight he "...should have taken the headwind instead." During the landing flare, the airplane "porpoised," and the nose landing gear impacted the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the engine firewall. The student pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies of the airplane. Winds, recorded at the airport about the time of the accident, were from 230 degrees true at 11 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N429FF
- Reported as
- Cessna 172R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17281229
- Airframe hours
- 33
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Langley Aero Club
- Registered owner
- Langley Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 31, 2010
- Departed
- SFQ · Suffolk, VA
- Destination
- LFI · Hampton, VA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- LFI · Langley Air Force Base, runway 08, 10,000 × 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
- 26
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 58 total · 58 in this make and model · 58 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.88 inHg
- Observed at
- LFI
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 7, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 11.7 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.