- Date
- January 29, 2016, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Durant, OK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5101PCessna 152
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 14, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA Oklahoma City FSDO
- FAA report
- 20160129001269A
- Case key
- 92674
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 failure to maintain pitch control during the landing, resulting in a porpoise.
Findings · 5
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 pilot reported that during landing, she reduced the power and after rounding out the airplane "ballooned high." She reported that she relaxed the elevator pressure slightly to hold the airplane in a level attitude, and that the airplane "sank fast and bounced back high several times." The propeller struck the runway, the airplane had a total loss of power, and the nose wheel tire flattened. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot verified that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated that the automated weather observing system was reporting wind conditions as 19 knots, gusting to 24 knots from 210 degrees before she entered the airport's airspace. She additionally stated that the crosswind component was more than 11 knots. Approximately five minutes prior to the accident time, the meteorological terminal aviation routine weather report stated wind conditions as 16 knots, gusting to 26 knots from 220 degrees. As a safety recommendation, the pilot stated that she "should have prepared to go around anytime the approach was not as stabilized or try to land with a higher indicated airspeed or only two notches of flaps instead." She additionally discussed a "hazardous attitude" regarding the landing, with "macho – I thought I had landed successfully in gusty winds as strong as this before" and with "impulsivity – I really wanted to land as soon as possible."
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during landing, she reduced the power and after rounding out the airplane "ballooned high." She reported that she relaxed the elevator pressure slightly to hold the airplane in a level attitude, and that the airplane "sank fast and bounced back high several times." The propeller struck the runway, the airplane had a total loss of power, and the nose wheel tire flattened. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot verified that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated that the automated weather observing system was reporting wind conditions as 19 knots, gusting to 24 knots from 210 degrees before she entered the airport's airspace. She additionally stated that the crosswind component was more than 11 knots. Approximately five minutes prior to the accident time, the meteorological terminal aviation routine weather report stated wind conditions as 16 knots, gusting to 26 knots from 220 degrees. As a safety recommendation, the pilot stated that she "should have prepared to go around anytime the approach was not as stabilized or try to land with a higher indicated airspeed or only two notches of flaps instead." She additionally discussed a "hazardous attitude" regarding the landing, with "macho – I thought I had landed successfully in gusty winds as strong as this before" and with "impulsivity – I really wanted to land as soon as possible."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5101P
- Reported as
- Cessna 152 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15284876
- Built
- 1981
- Airframe hours
- 19,001.2
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Riverside Flight Center
- Registered owner
- Christiansen Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 10, 2015
- Departed
- RVS · Tulsa, OK
- Destination
- DUA · Durant, OK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- DUA · Durant Rgnl - Eaker Field, runway 17, 5,001 × 100 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
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 12, 2015
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 177.6 total · 143.5 in this make and model · 57.2 as pilot in command · 44 in the last 90 days · 26.6 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 16 knots, gusting 26
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- KDUA
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 3, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.3 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.