- Date
- July 1, 2011, 11:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Cambridge, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N789EPCessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 17, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA Baltimore FSDO
- FAA report
- 20110701014019A
- Case key
- 81149
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 recovery from a bounced 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
The student pilot stated that she was completing her first solo cross-country flight. She landed the airplane on its main landing gear but it bounced. She then decreased the pitch of the airplane's nose, resulting in the nosewheel touching down independently of the main landing gear. The airplane's nosewheel strut broke loose from its attachments and was driven into the engine compartment, which resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. She was able to keep the airplane on the runway during the entire landing sequence and roll. She taxied the airplane off of the runway and did not report any mechanical anomalies with the aircraft.
Factual narrative
The student pilot stated she was completing her first solo cross-country flight. She set up for runway 34 and entered the final approach at an airspeed of 70 knots. She landed the airplane on its main landing gear but it bounced. She then decreased the pitch of the airplane's nose, resulting in the nose wheel touching down independently of the main landing gear. The airplane's nose wheel strut broke loose from its attachments and was driven into the engine compartment, which resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. She was able to keep the airplane on the runway during the entire landing sequence and roll. She taxied the airplane off of the runway and did not report any mechanical anomalies with the aircraft. Weather conditions recorded at the airport about the time of the accident included winds from 340 degrees true at 7 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N789EP
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S8135
- Airframe hours
- 3,900
- Engine
- Lycoming IO360 SER A&C, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Brett Aviation
- Registered owner
- Dream Flight LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 11, 2011
- Departed
- MTN · Baltimore, MD
- Destination
- CGE · Cambridge, MD
- Airport
- CGE · Cambridge - Dorchester Airport, runway 34, 4,477 × 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 41 total · 41 in this make and model · 3 as pilot in command · 41 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KCGE
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 9, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 771 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 N789EP · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.