- Date
- December 23, 2016, 13:10 local (18:10 UTC)
- Place
- Hartford, CT
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N250YAPiper PA38
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20161223024429A
- Case key
- 94532
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, which resulted in a bounced 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 solo student pilot reported that, during the initial landing, the airplane bounced. During a subsequent touchdown, the nose gear impacted the runway with a side load, and the nose gear collapsed. The airplane slid to a stop in a nose-down attitude on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The student pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The solo student pilot reported that during the initial landing, the airplane bounced. During a subsequent touchdown, the nose gear impacted the runway with a side load and the nose gear collapsed. The airplane slid to a stop in a nose down attitude on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The student pilot reported there were no pre impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N250YA
- Reported as
- Piper PA38 (112)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 39-79A0341
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 5,368
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 8, 2016
- Departed
- POU · Poughkeepsie, NY
- Destination
- HFD · Hartford, CT
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- HFD · Hartford-Brainard, runway 20, 4,417 × 150 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 19
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 37 total · 37 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.35 inHg
- Observed at
- KHFD
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 21, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 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.