- Date
- March 11, 1994, 13:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Seattle, WA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N52807Cessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940311005059A
- Case key
- 41896
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's improper flare for landing and the instructor's delayed remedial action.
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 an attempted touch-and-go landing, the dual student pilot allowed the nose gear to contact the runway prior to the mains. The nosewheel impacted with sufficient energy to result in substantial damage to the aircraft's firewall.
Factual narrative
On March 11, 1994, approximately 1300 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 172, N52807, experienced a hard landing at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. The CFI and her student were not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The FAR Part 91 dual instructional flight, which departed the same location about 5 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to the CFI, during one of the student's touch-and-go landings, he either forced the nose gear of the aircraft onto the runway, or suddenly released back-pressure, allowing the aircraft's nose to rapidly drop. This resulted in the nosewheel contacting the runway prior to the main gear with enough force to result in substantial damage to the firewall.
The CFI took control of the aircraft during the landing attempt, but not in time to prevent the hard landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52807
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17274611
- Airframe hours
- 7,334
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Wings Aloft
- Registered owner
- Day, Lawrence E.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · February 24, 1994 · 18 hours before
- Airport
- BFI · Boeing Field
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 674 total · 201 in this make and model · 582 as pilot in command · 65 in the last 90 days · 32 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N52807 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.