The pilot reported that during landing, his airspeed was too high and the Cessna 172 bounced. He continued the landing at the airport in Clearwater, Florida, but the airplane porpoised, and on the third bounce slid off the runway.
During the runway excursion, the nose landing gear collapsed and the propeller struck the ground.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
A post-accident examination revealed that the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the firewall.
Probable cause: The pilot’s excessive airspeed during landing, which resulted in abnormal runway contact, a runway excursion, and substantial damage to the airplane.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA049
This April 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I had a “porpoising” landing in a Piper PA-28 on my 3rd solo flight during training. It bounced 3 times and I kept it on the runway OK, but the prop had hit in the process. No other damage.
I looked at the in-cockpit video quite abit after that event, it threw my confidence for quite awhile. I had done multiple landings that day, so what had happened here…
I continued on with flight training after the strike, (although by my choice I never flew the school’s Cherokee again) and finally while flying one day with another pilot not my instructor, he asked me how come I wasn’t setting up for a fully stabilized approach. How come on final, I wasn’t at or very close to idle, with the elevator trim set for the approach speed desired, on the way to a nice flare and settle on. I had no answer….
He observed that I was holding throttle more above idle than I should on final, and not trimming enough nose up but was holding back pressure on the yoke all the way on. So that what probably happened with MY porpoise that fine day was that when I finally pulled throttle to full idle just before touchdown, not being trimmed well, with a force loaded yoke anyway, it plopped onto the nose wheel, bounced up and then the second bad for the day of trying to catch the porpoising motion, ended up bouncing the prop to the runway surface. Oh I had practiced missed approaches for the conditions of too high or too fast etc,, but I rode out the bucking Bronco for this particular landing, hadn’t practiced that!
I went on to get my PPL some months later, and the Cherokee engine got torn down and checked and went back into flight school service, albeit by payment from my insurance co. that I thought was more than I was worth. That landing gave me pause for awhile about the endeavor, but the flight school owner didn’t flinch one bit, and encouraged me to get back to the training and go. I am glad he did.
I own and fly a vintage Cessna 120 tail dragger now, and there are still days that not every landing is as good as you would like. Some could be used for how-to training films, others only a mother could love. But I am surely near or at full idle and trimmed for speed on final these days, and I am always prepared to add throttle and go around on landings!!
After bounce should have gone to max power and taken it around using excess speed to advantage. Why do some people stay committed to “planting” the airplane on a bad approach and landing? Seldom works out for the best.
Unfortunately Pilot not controlling airspeed, and airplane attitude in Ground Effect.
All his hard work during training went out the window.