- Date
- September 22, 2024, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Erie, PA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N61232Cessna 150
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- 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
- 20240922020029A
- Case key
- 195160
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 subsequent improper recovery from a bounced landing and the flight instructor’s inadequate remedial action.
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 flight instructor reported the purpose of the flight was to train the student pilot on landings and go-arounds. After completing one touch-and-go landing and two go-arounds without incident, the flight instructor recounted that the student pilot flew the airplane through the traffic pattern and final approach leg at the appropriate speeds, altitudes, and descent rates. During the landing, the student pilot flared high and the airplane subsequently impacted the runway hard and flat. This led to a short bounce resulting in the airplane touching down a second time in a side-loaded and nose-down attitude. Upon the second touchdown the nose landing gear collapsed, and the right wing struck the runway resulting in substantial damage to the right wing and lower fuselage. The flight instructor did not report any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N61232
- Reported as
- Cessna 150 (J)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15070905
- Built
- 1969
- Airframe hours
- 5,467.7
- Engine
- Continental Motors O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Fundamentals Flight Training
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 6, 2024 · 48 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- ERI · Erie Intl/Tom Ridge Fld, runway 24, 8,420 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 42
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 28, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 317 total · 62 in this make and model · 233 as pilot in command · 78 in the last 90 days · 57 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 38
- Injuries
- None
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 15.4 total · 15.4 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 5.9 in the last 30 days · 1.4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.96 inHg
- Observed at
- ERI
- METAR
- KERI 221251Z 17004KT 10SM CLR 19/17 A2996 RMK AO2 SLP142 T01890167
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 44.3 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.