- Date
- September 8, 2020, 14:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Snohomish, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N946SFCessna 152
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Ziegler
- FAA report
- 20200908013649A
- Case key
- 101943
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 solo student pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing and his subsequent improper go-around, which resulted in an impact with terrain.
Findings · 4
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 solo student pilot reported that during landing, upon touchdown, the airplane bounced. The student’s flight instructor, who was at a radio, instructed him to go around so the student pilot increased the engine power, maintained the flaps at 30º, and the airplane drifted left of runway centerline. As the student pilot reached about 10 ft above the ground in a nose up attitude, the flight instructor radioed him again to “pitch down.” The student pilot then lowered the nose, but the airplane continued to drift left, impacted the adjacent grass field, and came to rest nose down. The engine truss sustained substantial damage. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N946SF
- Reported as
- Cessna 152 (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15282353
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 13,464
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235=L2C, 15 lbs thrust, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Snohomish Flying Service
- Registered owner
- Harvey Kandace A
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 6, 2020 · 896 hours before
- Airport
- S43 · Harvey Field, runway 33R, 2,672 × 36 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 16
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 22 total · 22 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 22 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 9 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 76 °F, dew point 31 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- KPAE, 10 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 3, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 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.