- Date
- September 24, 1994, 13:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Fallbrook, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N89546Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 28878
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced 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 student pilot was practicing in the local area and returned to the carlsbad palomar airport. While in the traffic pattern, the airport runway was closed due to a disabled aircraft and the pilot diverted to Fallbrook to await the reopening of the carlsbad runway. The aircraft landed hard at Fallbrook, porpoised, and broke off the nose gear strut, damaging the engine firewall. The operator stated that the pilot has been endorsed for solo flights to the Fallbrook airport and has landed there before.
Factual narrative
On September 24, 1994, at 1330 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 152, N89546, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at the Fallbrook, California, airport. The aircraft was operated by Four Winds Aviation, Inc., of Carlsbad, California, and was rented by the pilot for a local area solo instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated at the Carlsbad Palomar airport on the day of the accident at 1200 hours.
According to the operator, the 37-hour student pilot was practicing in the local area and returned to the Carlsbad Palomar airport. While in the traffic pattern, the airport runway was closed due to a disabled aircraft and the pilot diverted to Fallbrook to await the reopening of the Carlsbad runway. The aircraft landed hard at Fallbrook, porpoised, and broke off the nose gear strut, damaging the engine firewall.
The operator stated that the pilot has been endorsed for solo flights to the Fallbrook airport and has landed there before.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89546
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15282546
- Airframe hours
- 5,947
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Four Winds Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Pinnacle Aviation Services Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Provisional (Special); Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 30, 1994 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- CRQ · Carlsbad, CA
- Destination
- CRQ · CA
- Airport
- L18 · Fallbrook Airpark, runway 18, 2,160 × 70 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 40 total · 36 in this make and model · 5 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None