- Date
- July 9, 2015, 18:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Burlington, WI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N29NXPietenpol AIR Camper
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA Milwaukee FSDO
- FAA report
- 20150709009399A
- Case key
- 91554
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 maintain pitch control during the landing touchdown, resulting in a hard 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 student pilot reported that during the landing touchdown, she landed "a bit hard," and the forward momentum caused the nose of the airplane to contact the runway. A postflight inspection revealed substantial damage to the right aft wing strut and to the fuselage underneath the rudder pedals. The student pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot reported that during the landing touchdown, she landed "a bit hard," and the forward momentum caused the nose of the airplane to contact the runway. A postflight inspection revealed substantial damage to the right aft wing strut and to the fuselage underneath the rudder pedals. The student pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N29NX
- Reported as
- Pietenpol AIR Camper (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- BACH2
- Built
- 2008
- Airframe hours
- 242.2
- Engine
- Continetnal C-65-12, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 23, 2014
- Departed
- BUU · Burlington, WI
- Destination
- BUU · Burlington, WI
- Airport
- BUU · Burlington Muni, runway 01, 2,410 × 130 ft, grass/turf
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
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 54.2 total · 31.2 in this make and model · 14.8 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 7.5 in the last 30 days · 0.6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KBUU
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 10, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 10.8 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.