- Date
- August 31, 2013, 09:07 local (13:07 UTC)
- Place
- Lakeland, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5625YBreezer 912ULS2
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 19, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20130831016559A
- Case key
- 87983
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, which resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear.
Findings · 3
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 of the special light sport airplane reported that he was practicing touch-and-go landings and had completed six, when the air traffic controller requested that he perform a short approach. The student pilot was aligned with the arrival runway numbers when he turned base leg. According to the student pilot, he forced the airplane down and made a hard landing. The airplane then bounced at least once and when it struck the ground the final time, the nose gear collapsed. A postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the firewall and engine mounts. The student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.
Factual narrative
The student pilot of the special light sport airplane reported that he was practicing touch-and-go landings and had completed six, when the air traffic controller requested that he perform a short approach. The student pilot was aligned with the arrival runway numbers when he turned base leg. According to the student pilot, he forced the airplane down and made a hard landing. The airplane then bounced at least once and when it struck the ground the final time, the nose gear collapsed. A postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the firewall and engine mounts. The student pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5625Y
- Reported as
- Breezer 912ULS2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 004LSA
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 310
- Engine
- Rotax 912S, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special light-sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 21, 2013 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- LAL · Lakeland, FL
- Destination
- LAL · Lakeland, FL
- Airport
- LAL · Lakeland Linder Rgnl, runway 27, 8,499 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- Pilot
- Age
- 63
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 58 total · 58 in this make and model · 32 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Observed at
- LAL
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 7, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.7 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.