- Date
- August 20, 1995, 17:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Hopedale, MA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8885VCessna 172M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 21, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950820041589A
- Case key
- 39035
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 improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a loss of control and collision with a fence and a building.
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
During the student pilot's first solo landing, he flared high and landed hard. The airplane continued to bounce, and the student applied power to regain control. The airplane then veered off of the runway and collided with a fence and a building. The student had accumulated a total of 18.4 hours of dual flight instruction, all in this make and model.
Factual narrative
On August 20, 1995, at 1730 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N8885V, was destroyed during an attempted landing at the Hopedale Industrial Park Airport (1B6), Hopedale, Massachusetts. The student pilot received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, for the solo flight that originated at 1B6, at 1725. No flight plan had been filed for the flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
In the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, the student pilot (SP) stated that he departed 1B6 for his first solo flight. He then flew a standard pattern, and turned final to runway 36. The SP further stated:
As I began my flare for touchdown, the plane hit the runway on the main gear and caused a high bounce, then came back down and hit the nose gear, causing a porpoise-like motion. I increased power momentarily, to try to regain control, but the plane nosed very hard into the runway and began veering to the left. I then tried to increase power in an attempt to get back on the runway in order to avoid hitting the fence and the building...I struck the building at about 50 MPH.
A review of the SP's logbook revealed that he had accumulated a total of 18.4 hours of dual flight instruction, in this make and model, prior to the flight. The SP's Certificate was endorsed for solo flight the day of the accident, after an .8 hour flight with his instructor.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8885V
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17264244
- Airframe hours
- 2,979
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hopedale Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 1B6
- Airport
- 1B6 · Hopedale Industrial Park, runway 36, 3,172 × 90 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 18 in this make and model · 18 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PVD, 28 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.