- Date
- August 29, 2013, 19:08 local (23:08 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6065PCessna 172S
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 21, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20130829018649A
- Case key
- 87961
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 failure to apply power to go-around following a bounced landing resulting in abnormal runway contact and collapse of the nose landing gear.
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 had flown with her instructor earlier that day and successfully performed about 5 takeoff’s and landings which included 1 go-around. She was then signed off for her first solo flight, and instructed to perform full stop taxi back landings. The student pilot stated that the flight departed and remained in the traffic pattern where on final approach she recognized the airplane was low. She applied power to level off, and noticed the airspeed was increasing so she, “…jerked the control stick.” The airplane contacted the runway, bounced, where she applied aft control, and was about to apply power but the airplane contacted the runway again causing the nose landing gear to collapse. The student pilot’s certified flight instructor who was watching and listening on a portable VHF transceiver reported observing the airplane bounce twice, and the second bounce was higher than the first. He then lost sight of the airplane and heard the student pilot’s voice on the radio, followed by a comment from the controller that help was on the way. The operator reported there was no mechanical failure or malfunction, and postaccident inspection of the flight controls by a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
Factual narrative
The student pilot had flown with her instructor earlier that day and successfully performed about 5 takeoff’s and landings which included 1 go-around. She was then signed off for her first solo flight, and instructed to perform full stop taxi back landings. The student pilot stated that the flight departed and remained in the traffic pattern where on final approach she recognized the airplane was low. She applied power to level off, and noticed the airspeed was increasing so she, “…jerked the control stick.” The airplane contacted the runway, bounced, where she applied aft control, and was about to apply power but the airplane contacted the runway again causing the nose landing gear to collapse.The student pilot’s certified flight instructor who was watching and listening on a portable VHF transceiver reported observing the airplane bounce twice, and the second bounce was higher than the first. He then lost sight of the airplane and heard the student pilot’s voice on the radio, followed by a comment from the controller that help was on the way. The operator reported there was no mechanical failure or malfunction, and postaccident inspection of the flight controls by a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6065P
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10253
- Airframe hours
- 2,498
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Airborne Systems, Inc., doing business as Airborne Systems
- Registered owner
- S R Liner LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 8, 2013
- Departed
- FXE · Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Destination
- FXE · Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Airport
- FXE · Fort Lauderdale Executive, runway 13, 4,000 × 100 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
- 74 total · 74 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- FXE
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 19, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.0 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.