- Date
- June 22, 2001, 09:40 local (16:40 UTC)
- Place
- Auburn, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2572NPiper PA-38-112
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 28, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
- Case key
- 53349
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
Failure of the student pilot to maintain a proper airspeed during landing, which lead to a hard landing and porpoise down the runway leading to the collapse of the nose landing gear.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot landed hard and the airplane porpoised down the runway, collapsing the nose landing gear, which damaged the firewall. This was an instructional flight that was terminating at home base. No discrepancies were noted with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On June 22, 2001, at 0940 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-38-112, N2572N, landed hard and collapsed the nose landing gear at the Auburn Municipal Airport, Auburn, California. The airplane, owned and operated by Mazzei's Flying Service as an instructional flight under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, sustained substantial damage. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan had been filed. The flight departed the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, Fresno, California, about 0800. The flight was scheduled to terminate at the Fresno airport.
According to witnesses on the airport, on the landing touchdown the airplane porpoised three times down runway 25 and the nose landing gear collapsed.
In the student pilot's written statement to the Safety Board, he stated that the purpose of the flight was to conduct touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. On the first landing the airplane "touched down fast . . . ," and bounced into the air two times. When the airplane touched down on the runway the third time, the nose landing gear collapsed. No discrepancies were noted with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2572N
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-112
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3879A0925
- Airframe hours
- 4,700
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Golden Eagle Enterprises, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 14, 2001 · 37 hours before
- Departed
- FAT · Fresno, CA
- Destination
- AUB · Auburn, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- AUN · Auburn Municipal, runway 25, 3,100 × 60 ft, asphalt
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
- 35
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 46 total · 46 in this make and model · 5 as pilot in command · 46 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 2 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- BAB, 20 nm away
Other investigations on N2572N · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.