- Date
- March 24, 2004, 08:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Norwood, MA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6535JPiper PA-28-180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20040324004179A
- Case key
- 58945
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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Probable cause
The student pilot failure to recover from a bounced landing. A factor in this accident was the student pilot's lack of solo flight experience.
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 first unsupervised solo flight, and was practicing takeoffs and landings on a 4,008-foot-long, 100-foot-wide, asphalt runway. She had completed approximately 17 landings prior to the accident; however, during the next landing attempt, her approach was high, and when the airplane contacted the runway, it landed harder, and bounced higher, than usual. The airplane began to porpoise, the propeller struck the runway, and the nose gear collapsed. The airplane then departed the right side of the runway and struck a snow bank. The student pilot did not experience any mechanical problems. She reported 49.2 hours of total flight experience, all in the make and model of the accident airplane.
Factual narrative
On March 24, 2004, about 0845 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-28-180, N6535J, was substantially damaged while landing at the Norwood Memorial Airport (OWD), Norwood, Massachusetts. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The student pilot was conducting her first unsupervised solo flight, and was practicing takeoffs and landings on runway 17, a 4,008-foot-long, 100-foot-wide, asphalt runway.
The student pilot reported that she had completed approximately 17 landings prior to the accident; however, during the next landing attempt, her approach was high, and when the airplane contacted the runway, it landed harder, and bounced higher, than usual. The airplane began to porpoise, the propeller struck the runway, and the nose gear collapsed. The airplane then departed the right side of the runway and struck a snow bank.
The student pilot stated that she did not experience any mechanical problems. She reported 49.2 hours of total flight experience, all in the make and model of the accident airplane.
Winds reported at OWD, about the time of the accident, were calm.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6535J
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-4976
- Airframe hours
- 3,750
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A3A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Keith M. Orr
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 16, 2003 · 120 hours before
- Departed
- OWD · Norwood, MA
- Destination
- OWD · Norwood, MA
- Airport
- OWD · Norwood, runway 17, 4,008 × 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 33
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 49 total · 49 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 48 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.54 inHg
- Observed at
- OWD
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.