- Date
- October 20, 2012, 12:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Weyers Cave, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1431FCessna 172H
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20121020022899A
- Case key
- 85422
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 reported that after completing her first solo cross-country flight she landed without incident. She then elected to practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. During the subsequent landing, the airplane touched down hard and bounced before coming to rest on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and skin deformation just forward of the pilot’s side door. The student pilot reported that she did not experience any mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot reported that she landed after completing her first solo cross-country flight without incident. She then elected to takeoff to practice takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. During the subsequent landing, the airplane touched down hard and bounced before coming to rest on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall, and skin deformation just forward of the pilot’s side door. The student pilot reported that she did not experience any mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1431F
- Reported as
- Cessna 172H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17254926
- Airframe hours
- 3,979
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-300 SER, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Valley Aircraft Leasing
- Registered owner
- Valley Aircraft Leasing
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 24, 2012 · 76 hours before
- Departed
- SHD · Weyers Cave, VA
- Destination
- SHD · Weyers Cave, VA
- Airport
- SHD · Shenandoah Valley, runway 23, 6,001 × 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
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 68 total · 58 in this make and model · 9 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.82 inHg
- Observed at
- SHD
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 4, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 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.