The pilot reported that, after a hard landing, the Cessna 177 began to porpoise and he decided to abort the landing.
During the aborted landing, he added power and as the airplane began to climb, he retracted the flaps too soon and too quickly and the plane settled back onto the runway, landed hard again, veered off the runway to the right, collapsed the nose gear, and stopped in a nose down attitude.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right aileron, fuselage, and empennage.
The procedures for a balked landing, as provided by Cessna, state:
- Power – Full throttle and 2700 rpm
- Carburetor Heat – Cold
- Wing Flaps – Retract to 20°
- Upon reaching an airspeed of approximately 75 mph, retract flaps slowly.
The pilot reported as a safety recommendation to wait longer for the aircraft to further stabilize, gain speed, and begin climbing before retracting flaps.
Probable cause: The pilot’s incorrect balked landing procedure, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent, hard landing, a runway excursion, and nose gear collapse.
NTSB Identification: GAA16CA404
This July 2016 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.
This is why we practice ALL maneuvers, including a go-around….so we can do them correctly when needed.
Landing skills get ‘rusty’ without practice.