- Date
- May 7, 2007, 09:20 local (16:20 UTC)
- Place
- Payson, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N533ERCessna 172S
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 27, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20070507007549A
- Case key
- 65831
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 inadequate in-flight planning/decision, excessive airspeed on final approach, and failure to execute a go-around resulting in a misjudged flare and hard landing.
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 airplane landed hard, bouncing multiple times before coming to rest on an adjacent taxiway. In an attempt to allow excessive airspeed to decay, the pilot elected to land 1,700 feet beyond the threshold. The airplane contacted the runway with the nose wheel and the propeller striking first. The airplane then bounced, and landed hard approximately 95 feet further down the runway, again sustaining propeller strikes. It became airborne for another 125 feet before striking the runway and departing to the left, passing through turf and coming to rest on the adjacent taxiway. The operator reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On May 7, 2006, about 0920 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172S, N533ER, porpoised during landing at Payson Airport, Payson, Arizona. General Electric Finance Corporation owned the airplane, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University operated it under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The student pilot was not injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The cross-country flight departed Prescott, Arizona, about 0800. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan had been filed.
The operator stated in a written report that the pilot was on his first VFR solo cross-country flight. The airplane approached Payson from the northwest, and entered a right traffic pattern for runway 24. The first approach resulted in an aborted landing due to a high, overshooting base to final turn. The second approach resulted in excessive airspeed on final, with the pilot attempting to land long and allow for a decay in airspeed. The airplane contacted the runway about 1,700 feet beyond the threshold with the nose wheel and the propeller striking the runway first. The airplane then bounced, and landed hard approximately 95 feet further down the runway, again sustaining propeller strikes. It became airborne for another 125 feet before striking the runway and departing to the left, passing through turf and coming to rest on the adjacent taxiway.
The airplane sustained substantial damage including a buckled and split firewall, propeller strikes, and a destroyed nose wheel tire and bearing.
The operator reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N533ER
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S9137
- Airframe hours
- 3,751
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, doing business as Erau
- Registered owner
- Ge Aircraft, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · May 1, 2007 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- PRC · Prescott, AZ
- Destination
- PAN · Payson, AZ
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- PAN · Payson, runway 24, 5,500 × 75 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 131 total · 130 in this make and model · 4 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.