The pilot reported that during the landing roll at the airport in Herington, Kansas, “all of a sudden the plane started ballooning up from a strong gust of wind, I lowered the nose of the airplane slightly as to avoid a stall.”
“I was then forced back to the ground violently and once again ballooned up,” he continued, adding that the Cessna 172 “ballooned up and was forced down five times.”
Once the porpoising stopped, he taxied off the runway without further incident.
A post-flight inspection revealed substantial damage to the underside of the fuselage, the firewall, and the floor boards underneath the rudder pedals.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain pitch control during the landing roll, which resulted in a porpoise.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA274
This September 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 always taught my students to abort the landing and go around at the first sign of a bounce. My first CFI told me, “..the only time you have to land is in an engine out situation, or if you are on fire”.
Good advice. One bounce is enough. FWIW, a third time when a landing is mandatory is on a ‘one way’ airstrip… better to it something on the ground at low energy than in the air at flying speeds.