- Date
- November 15, 2014, 13:05 local (21:05 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Rosa, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5216NCessna E162
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 10, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20141115023759A
- Case key
- 90519
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 which resulted in a hard landing and subsequent nose gear collapse.
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 an initial solo flight, the student pilot was conducting a series of three takeoff and landings. During the second landing, the airplane landed hard, bounced, and landed on the nose wheel landing gear, which resulted in the nose gear collapsing. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the nose wheel landing gear was compressed upward and aft into the firewall and fuselage structure. The student pilot reported that at the time of the accident, no preexisting mechanical malfunctions or failures existed that would of precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Factual narrative
During an initial solo flight, the student pilot was conducting a series of three takeoff and landings. During the second landing, the airplane landed hard, bounced, and landed on the nose wheel landing gear, which resulted in the nose gear collapsing. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the nose wheel landing gear was compressed upward and aft into the firewall and fuselage structure. The student pilot reported that at the time of the accident, no preexisting mechanical malfunctions or failures existed that would of precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5216N
- Reported as
- Cessna E162 (UNDESIGNAT)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 16200047
- Built
- 2011
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- North Coast Air
- Registered owner
- Skycatcher N162ah LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special light-sport (Special)
- Departed
- STS · Santa Rosa, CA
- Destination
- STS · Santa Rosa, CA
- Airport
- STS · Sonoma County, runway 14, 6,000 × 150 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
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 10 total · 10 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- KSTS, 1 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 18, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.2 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.