- Date
- April 3, 1997, 14:17 local (19:17 UTC)
- Place
- St. Petersburg, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2402JCessna 150G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 25, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970403010059A
- Case key
- 38242
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 level off.
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 performing touch-and-go landings. On his fifth landing, he landed hard. The nose wheel came off, the airplane skidded on the fork for about 100 feet, departed the runway onto the grass that parallels the runway, and nosed over on the tail.
Factual narrative
On April 3, 1997, about 1417 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150G, N2402J, registered to a private owner, crashed while landing near St. Petersburg, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the Title 14 CFR Part 91 local training flight. The student pilot was not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged.
The student pilot was performing touch-and-go landings. The pilot said, on his fifth landing, "I flared improperly and landed hard. Nose wheel came off, the plane skidded on the fork for about 100 feet. Plane went off [the] runway, the fork struck in [the grass] and [the] plane slowly tipped over on the tail...."
According to the FAA inspector's statement, "[the] pilot/owner admitted making a nose hard landing due to not properly flaring the aircraft on his fifth touch and go landing." The inspector further stated that the airplane had landed on runway 6, the nose wheel separated, and the airplane departed the left side of the runway, onto the grass strip that paralleled the runway, before it nosed over onto the tail.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2402J
- Reported as
- Cessna 150G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15065502
- Airframe hours
- 8,524
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Douglas H. Hutchison
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 14, 1996 · 125 hours before
- Departed
- SPG
- Airport
- SPG · Albert Whitted Municipal, runway 6, 3,702 × 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 60
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 28 in this make and model · 3 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 13 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 15,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.