- Date
- March 4, 2013, 18:15 local (23:15 UTC)
- Place
- Bardstown, KY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N89847Cessna 172P
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 24, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20130304003809A
- Case key
- 86353
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 during a crosswind landing, 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 first solo cross-country flight, wind at the destination airport was from 120 degrees at 6 knots, so he chose to land on runway 20. Abeam the intended point of landing, the student pilot reduced power, added 10 degrees of flaps, and obtained the desired descent airspeed. He maintained that airspeed on the base leg, and, turning onto final, noted that the airplane was high. The student pilot then lowered the flaps completely while continuing to maintain the desired approach airspeed. The student pilot stated that, shortly afterward, the airplane “ballooned,” and then “dropped immediately” and impacted the runway in a nose-low attitude. He reported that the stall warning horn sounded from "slightly before” the airplane “ballooned” until it impacted the runway. The student pilot did not report any preexisting preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Postflight examinations revealed a collapsed nose landing gear and firewall damage.
Factual narrative
According to the dispatching flight instructor, the student pilot was on his first solo cross country flight. According to the student pilot, wind at the single-runway destination airport was from 120 degrees at 6 knots, so he chose to land on runway 20. Abeam the intended point of landing, the student pilot reduced power, added 10 degrees of flaps, and obtained the desired descent airspeed. He maintained that airspeed on the base leg, and turning onto final, noted that the airplane was high. The student pilot then lowered the flaps completely while continuing to maintain the desired approach airspeed. Once over the runway, the airplane “ballooned,” then "dropped immediately" and impacted the runway in a nose-low attitude, with the stall warning horn sounding from “slightly before” the balloon until impact. The student pilot did not report any preexisting mechanical anomalies with the airplane, while a postflight examination of it revealed a collapsed nose landing gear and firewall damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89847
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17276014
- Airframe hours
- 10,060
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Eastern Kentucky University
- Registered owner
- Christiansen Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- I39 · Richmond, KY
- Destination
- BRY · Bardstown, KY
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- BRY · Bardstown, runway 20, 5,003 × 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
- 19
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Flight hours
- 36 total · 36 in this make and model · 21 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Observed at
- BRY
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 8, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 707 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 N89847 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.