- Date
- September 19, 2021, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Auburn, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N84068Cessna 172
- 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
- Stewart
- FAA report
- 20210919016179A
- Case key
- 104147
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 inadequate flare which resulted in a hard and bounced landing.
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 operator reported that, the purpose of the flight was for the student pilot to perform his second solo flight. During his first landing, the airplane’s airspeed was fast. The airplane was diving toward the runway in a nose-low attitude and the nose wheel touched first. The airplane bounced several times before settling on the runway. The lower floorboards and firewall were substantially damaged. The operator reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N84068
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (K)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17258321
- Built
- 1969
- Airframe hours
- 3,497
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Citabria, doing business as Sunshine Flyers
- Registered owner
- Citabria
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 10, 2021 · 10 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- AUN · Auburn Muni, runway 07/25, 3,700 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 33
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 60 total · 60 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.08 inHg
- Observed at
- KAUN
- METAR
- METAR KAUN 192115Z AUTO 29005KT 10SM FEW050 FEW055 23/09 A3008 RMK A01
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 9, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.5 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.