- Date
- April 3, 2021, 11:22 local (18:22 UTC)
- Place
- Sand Point, ID
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7616XCessna 172
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- 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
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210403003719A
- Case key
- 102859
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 which resulted in a hard landing, loss of directional control and subsequent nose over.
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 reported that he was flying his first solo flight and had just performed an uneventful touch-and-go landing. During the second landing flare, the airplane floated along the runway, then landed hard. The airplane then veered left, departed the runway, and nosed over in the adjacent grass area. The fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7616X
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17248116
- Built
- 1960
- Airframe hours
- 5,902.31
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-300B, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 12, 2021 · 10 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- SZT · Sandpoint, runway 02/20, 5,501 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- 36
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 38.5 total · 32.4 in this make and model · 10.8 in the last 90 days · 9.9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- SZT, 0.5 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 1, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.1 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.