- Date
- March 7, 1996, 13:55 local (21:55 UTC)
- Place
- Las Vegas, NV
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5531MCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 19, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960307003779A
- Case key
- 29384
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 flare and improper recover from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing and collapse of the nose gear. A factor relating to the accident was: the flight instructor's inadequate instruction concerning recovery from bounced landings.
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
After flying in the practice area, the student pilot returned to the traffic pattern to perform touch-and-go landings in a calm wind condition. The student stated that as she flared to land, the airplane bounced. After several bounces, the nose landing gear collapsed. According to the operator, the student's instructor had not followed the school training cirriculum and had provided inadequate instruction regarding recovery from difficulties in the landing phase of flight.
Factual narrative
On March 7, 1996, about 1355 hours Pacific standard time, a Cessna 152, N5531M, was substantially damaged after the nose landing gear collapsed during a landing at North Las Vegas, Nevada. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local instructional flight and no flight plan was filed. The pilot was to perform a series of touch-and-go landings on runway 07.
The student pilot stated that she was coming in from the practice area for the first touch-and-go landing. She stated that the winds were calm and during the flare the airplane bounced. After several bounces the nose gear collapsed.
According to the operator, the flight instructor did not follow the training curriculum with the student. The student had not been given instruction regarding recovery from difficulties in the landing phase of flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5531M
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15284606
- Engine
- Continental O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Aerleon Flight School
- Registered owner
- Wgl Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 24, 1996
- Departed
- VGT · NV
- Airport
- VGT · North Las Vegas, runway 7, 5,000 × 90 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
- 17
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 27 total · 27 in this make and model · 14 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.