- Date
- September 1, 2012, 11:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Farmingdale, NY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2409ECessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 11, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120901028879A
- Case key
- 85088
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 landing 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
The student pilot was landing at the destination airport at the conclusion of a solo cross-country flight. He stated that he flared the airplane too high, resulting in a hard landing and propeller strike. A postaccident examination revealed substantial damage to the engine firewall and buckling of the lower fuselage. The pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was landing at the destination airport at the conclusion of a solo cross-country flight. He stated that he flared the airplane too high, resulting in a hard landing and propeller strike. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector, who examined the airplane after the accident, observed substantial damage to the engine firewall and buckling of the lower fuselage. The pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2409E
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10552
- Airframe hours
- 2,792
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Academy of Aviation
- Registered owner
- Nutac Leasing LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- BDR · Bridgeport, CT
- Destination
- FRG · Farmingdale, NY
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- FRG · Republic Airport, runway 32, 6,833 × 150 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 55 total · 55 in this make and model · 6 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FRG
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 16, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.4 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.