- Date
- August 31, 2009, 15:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Merced, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5155BCessna 152
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Fresno FSDO
- FAA report
- 20090831016969A
- Case key
- 74643
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 pilot's improper flare which resulted in a hard landing and subsequent collapse of the nose landing gear strut.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
During the landing flare for a full-stop landing, the airplane touched down hard, and bounced into the air. The student pilot attempted to arrest the descent, but the airplane's nose wheel hit the runway surface with sufficient force to collapse the nose gear strut and to damage the firewall.
Factual narrative
During the landing flare for a full-stop landing, the student pilot's lack of adequate pitch control resulted in the airplane entering a wheelbarrow type oscillation on the nose wheel. Because the student pilot was unable to correct the oscillation, the airplane's nose wheel hit the runway surface with sufficient force to collapse the nose gear strut and to damage the firewall.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5155B
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15283779
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235 SERIES, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Sierra Academy of Aeronautics
- Registered owner
- JS Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- MER · Merced, CA
- Destination
- MER · Merced, CA
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- MER · Merced/Castle, runway 31, 7,000 × 75 ft, concrete
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
- 25
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Flight hours
- 50 total · 50 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 99 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.81 inHg
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 25, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 652 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.