- Date
- November 28, 2011, 15:38 local (23:38 UTC)
- Place
- Napa, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7952ACessna 172K
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 8, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20111128027329A
- Case key
- 82426
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 landing flare, inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, and loss of directional control.
Findings · 3
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
The student pilot stated that this was his fourth solo flight and that he had accumulated about 2 hours of solo flying experience. He flew to a nearby airport for practice touch-and-go landings and takeoffs and was planning a standard rectangular pattern. As he approached the airfield, a tower air traffic controller instructed him to perform a straight-in approach. This was the student pilot’s first attempt at a straight-in landing, and he had difficulty stabilizing the airplane’s flight path before touchdown. The airplane landed hard, bounced, and departed the left side of the runway. The airplane rolled into muddy terrain, bending the nose wheel landing gear mounting structure and the engine firewall. The pilot did not report any mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot stated that this was his fourth solo flight and he had accumulated about 2 hours of solo flying. He flew to a nearby airport for touch-and-go landing practice and was planning a standard rectangular pattern. As he approached the airfield, an air traffic control tower operator instructed him to land straight in. This was the student pilot’s first attempt at a straight-in landing and he had difficulty stabilizing the airplane’s flight path before touchdown. The airplane landed hard, bounced, and departed the left side of the runway. The airplane rolled into muddy terrain, bending the nose wheel landing gear mounting structure and the engine firewall.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7952A
- Reported as
- Cessna 172K
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17258146
- Airframe hours
- 7,363
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Stratus Aviation, LLC, doing business as Wings Flight School
- Registered owner
- Welch Lamont R
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 25, 2011
- Departed
- VCB · Vacaville, CA
- Destination
- APC · Napa, CA
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- APC · Napa County Airport, runway 24, 5,007 × 150 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
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 35 total · 35 in this make and model · 23 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- APC
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 5, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.2 MB 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.