- Date
- February 7, 2000, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Louisburg, NC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N69174Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000207012789A
- Case key
- 48594
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 improper recovery from the bounced landing by the pilot-in-command for his failure to apply power and inadvertent stall by the pilot-in-command resulting in a hard landing. A contributing factor was the total lack of experience of the pilot-in-command.
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
While over the threshold of the second touch-and-go landing with the flaps fully extended, the pilot flared too soon and the airplane began to float. The airplane then touched down and bounced. After becoming airborne the student pilot applied aft elevator control input but did not apply power. The airplane then stalled, impacted hard on the runway to the left of the runway centerline, bounced again, then touched down off the left side of the runway. An automated weather observation taken on the airport about 26 minutes after the accident indicates in part that the wind was from 280 degrees at 7 knots.
Factual narrative
On February 7, 2000, about 1630 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N69174, registered to Challenge Air, Llc., operated by First in Flight Aviation, experienced collapse of the nose landing gear while landing at the Franklin County Airport, Louisburg, North Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated about 24 minutes earlier.
The pilot stated that he was practicing touch-and-go landings in preparation for his first solo cross- country flight. He was on his second touch-and-go landing and had turned base and final. After crossing over the threshold with the flaps fully extended, he flared too soon and the airplane began to float. The airplane then touched down and bounced, and while airborne, he applied aft elevator control input but did not apply power. The airplane then stalled, impacted hard on the runway to the left of the runway centerline, then bounced and touched down a third time off the left side of the runway. The airplane also collided with a 2-3 foot high snowbank off the left side of the runway.
An automated METAR weather observation taken on the airport about 26 minutes after the accident indicates in part that the wind was from 280 degrees at 7 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N69174
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15282528
- Airframe hours
- 8,232
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- First In Flight Aviation
- Registered owner
- Challenge Air, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 25, 1999 · 99 hours before
- Departed
- LHZ
- Airport
- LHZ · Franklin County, runway 22, 5,500 × 100 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
- 39
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 24 total · 24 in this make and model · 4 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 25 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LHZ
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.