- Date
- December 11, 2006, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Danbury, CT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N44635Piper PA-28-151
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 26, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20061211028169A
- Case key
- 64996
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
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 solo flight in a Piper PA-28-151. After takeoff, the student pilot remained in the traffic pattern and flew an approach to runway 35, a 3,135-foot-long, 100-foot-wide, asphalt runway. The airplane touched down hard at the approach end of the runway and bounced. During that time, the student pilot's headset slipped from her head and fell to the cabin floor. When the student pilot attempted to retrieve her headset, the airplane touched down harder a second time, and the nose gear separated from the airplane.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was conducting her first solo flight in a Piper PA-28-151. After takeoff, the student pilot remained in the traffic pattern and flew an approach to runway 35, a 3,135-foot-long, 100-foot-wide, asphalt runway. The airplane touched down hard at the approach end of the runway and bounced. During that time, the student pilot's headset slipped from her head and fell to the cabin floor. When the student pilot attempted to retrieve her headset, the airplane touched down harder a second time, and the nose gear separated from the airplane. The nose gear separation resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. The student pilot was not initially aware of the separation, and performed a go-around. After being informed of the damage by an air traffic controller, the student pilot performed an uneventful emergency landing to runway 35. The reported wind about the time of the accident was from 320 degrees at 6 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44635
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-151
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7415690
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Janet O'Brian
- Registered owner
- Tob LLC.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- DXR · Danbury, CT
- Airport
- DXR · Danbury Municipal Airport, runway 35, 3,135 × 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
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 18 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.38 inHg
- Observed at
- DXR
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.