- Date
- June 16, 2023, 19:13 local (Jun 17, 2023, 02:13 UTC)
- Place
- Mesa, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N28034Piper PA-28-181
- Defining event
- Landing: 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
- Scottsdale FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230616004319I
- Case key
- 192447
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.
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 flight school reported that the student pilot was conducting his second solo flight. In the landing flare the student pilot floated and began porpoising; hitting the nose wheel several times and striking the prop on the runway. The nosewheel collapsed sustaining substantial damage to the engine mount. There were no preaccident malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N28034
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2881357
- Built
- 2020
- Airframe hours
- 3,035
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-B4A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Phoenix
- Registered owner
- CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Phoenix
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · June 15, 2023 · 1 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- FFZ · Falcon Field Airport, runway 22L, 5,100 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 19
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 73 total · 73 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 4 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.74 inHg
- Observed at
- KFFZ
- METAR
- METAR KFFZ 160154Z 29005KT 10SM CLR 34/04 A2974 RMK AO2 SLP046 T03440039=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 26, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.2 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.