- Date
- May 3, 2011, 12:20 local (16:20 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Pierce, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5460KCessna 172P
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 3, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20110503007199A
- Case key
- 79043
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 flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
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
According to the student pilot, who was on his third solo flight, the airplane was stable on the final leg of the traffic pattern. He increased the pitch of the airplane and began to flare when the stall warning horn sounded. The student pilot then released the back pressure on the yoke to decrease pitch before the airplane impacted the runway, causing the nosewheel to bounce and buckle and the right rudder pedal to jam to the right. The airplane then veered off the right side of the runway, coming to rest in a grass apron. During the accident sequence the airplane incurred substantial damage to the firewall. During a subsequent examination of the wreckage, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found no preexisting anomalies with the airplane, nor did the student pilot report any.
Factual narrative
According to the student pilot, during his third solo flight, the airplane was stable on the final leg of the traffic pattern. He increased the pitch of the airplane and began to flare when the stall warning horn sounded. The student pilot then released the back pressure on the yoke to decrease pitch, the airplane impacted the runway, and the nose wheel "bounced heavily." After the airplane bounced heavily, the nosewheel buckled and the right rudder pedal jammed to the right. The airplane then veered off to the right side of the runway, coming to rest in a grass apron. During the accident sequence, the airplane incurred substantial damage to the firewall. During a subsequent examination of the wreckage, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found no preexisting anomalies of the airplane, nor did the student pilot report any.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5460K
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17274126
- Airframe hours
- 13,991
- Engine
- Lycoming 0-320 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- European Flight Training
- Registered owner
- Ari Ben Aviator Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- FPR · Fort Pierce, FL
- Destination
- FPR · Fort Pierce, FL
- Airport
- FPR · St. Lucie County International, runway 10, 4,000 × 75 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 33
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 26 total · 26 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- FPR
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 26, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 797 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.
Other investigations on N5460K · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.