- Date
- May 8, 2002, 18:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Forest, VA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N63123Cessna 152M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20020508018139A
- Case key
- 54658
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 failure to recover from a bounced landing, which resulted in a nose over.
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 conducting her second solo flight in the airplane. She had completed four uneventful full-stop landings; however, on the fifth landing attempt, she flared high and landed hard. The airplane began to porpoise and then departed the left side of the runway, where it nosed over and came to rest. The student pilot said she did not add power, or attempt a go-around during the landing attempt. The student pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane, and had 32 hours of total flight experience, all in make and model.
Factual narrative
On May 8, 2002, about 1830 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152M, N63123, was substantially damaged while landing at the New London Airport (W90), Forest, Virginia. The certificated student pilot was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The student pilot was conducting her second solo flight in the airplane.
During an interview, she said she had completed four uneventful full-stop landings to runway 16, a 3,164-foot long, 40-foot wide, asphalt runway; however, on the fifth landing attempt, she flared high and landed hard. The airplane began to porpoise and then departed the left side of the runway, where it nosed over and came to rest. She further stated that she did not add power, or attempt a go-around during the landing attempt.
The student pilot's flight instructor did not observe the airplane touchdown; however, he observed the airplane "porpoising from the main landing gear, to the nose landing gear." As the airplane departed the runway, the nose gear collapsed and the airplane slowly skidded and flipped over.
The student pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane, and had 32 hours of total flight experience, all in make and model.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63123
- Reported as
- Cessna 152M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15077119
- Engine
- Continental O-200-12, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Rucker Tibbs
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- W90 · Forest, VA
- Destination
- W90 · Forest
- Airport
- W90 · New London Airport, runway 16, 3,164 × 40 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 61
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 34 total · 34 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 9 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.07 inHg
- Observed at
- LYH, 7 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 12, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 643 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.