MIA01LA230

The student pilot was performing a soft field landing during a supervised solo flight, and she said that during the landing the aircraft bounced. She said she tried to recover by keeping the nose up, and then putting the nose down, but the aircraft bounced three times, and during the third bounce the nose came down, and the aircraft stopped. The flight instructor stated that he had showed the student soft field landings with both 20 and 40 degrees of flaps, and told her to perform them with 20 degrees of flaps, since he felt that she would not be able to handle the airplane with 40 degrees of flaps. The FAA inspector who conducted the postaccident examination of the aircraft said that during the landing, the landing gear failed, and was bent under the aircraft, bringing it to an abrupt halt. As a result, the firewall was damaged, and the forward fuselage wrinkled.

On September 5, 2001, about 1900 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150M, N704KK, registered to, and operated by Ormond Beach Aviation Inc., as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, made a hard landing at Ormond Beach, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The student pilot, sole occupant of the aircraft, was not injured. The flight originated the same day, about 1855.

The pilot in command was a student pilot on a supervised solo flight, and she stated that she had been receiving dual instruction on soft field takeoffs and landings, and after she had been given instruction, her instructor got out of the aircraft and told her to practice them. The student further stated that during her solo flight, as she was performing the soft field landing, the aircraft bounced. She said she tried to recover by keeping the nose up, and then putting the nose down, but the aircraft bounced three times, and during the third bounce the nose of the aircraft came down, and the aircraft stopped. She said she then switched off the master switch and the ignition, and made a radio call to say that the aircraft was on the runway.

The flight instructor stated that he showed the student soft field landings with both 20 and 40 degrees of flaps, to show her that the landing should be a normal approach and landing, at a normal airspeed. The instructor further stated that the student's landings had been "okay", and he had her drop him off at the "fuel farm", and sent her on a solo flight to practice soft field takeoffs and landings. He stated that he told her to perform the soft field landings with 20 degrees of flaps, since he felt that she would not be able to handle the airplane with 40 degrees of flaps.

According to the FAA inspector who conducted the postaccident examination of the aircraft, during the landing flare/touchdown, the landing gear failed, and was bent under the aircraft, bringing it to an abrupt halt. The inspector stated that as a result, the firewall was damaged, and the forward fuselage was wrinkled.