- Date
- July 11, 2020, 13:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Pickens, SC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N737WACessna 172
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200711011549A
- Case key
- 101594
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 and improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
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 reported that while practicing touch and go landings, he “came in a little faster than normal” on the 7th landing. During touchdown, the airplane bounced several times, each bounce “harder/higher” than the previous. He attempted to perform a abort the landing but the nose landing gear struck the ground “hard” and the propeller struck the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N737WA
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (N)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17269722
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 8,520
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 26, 2020
- Departed
- GMU · Greenville, SC
- Destination
- LQK · Pickens, SC
- Airport
- LQK · Pickens County, runway 23, 5,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Electronic primary flight display, Onboard weather
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
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 18 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- LQK
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 5, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.2 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.