- Date
- May 17, 2024, 08:15 local (12:15 UTC)
- Place
- St. Augustine, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N371RHCessna 172
- 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
- Case key
- 195263
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 pilot’s improper landing flare resulting in a hard, bounced 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
The operator reported that the student pilot was on a solo flight practicing landings. Upon completing uneventful pattern work, the pilot reported executing the landing flare late, resulting in a hard landing and bounce. The pilot did not initiate abort the landing and the airplane “porpoised down the runway”. The lower fuselage of the airplane was substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N371RH
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (S)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10414
- Built
- 2006
- Airframe hours
- 7,020.7
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Florida Flyers Flight Academy
- Registered owner
- Christiansen Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 14, 2024 · 7.9 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- SGJ · Northeast Florida Rgnl, runway 31, 8,001 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 28
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 16, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 42 total · 42 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.85 inHg
- Observed at
- SGJ
- METAR
- KSGJ 170756Z AUTO 19003KT 10SM CLR 23/21 A2985 RMK AO2 SLP107 T02280206 PNO $,M
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.4 MB in all.