The pilot reported that, during approach, he pushed the yoke forward to avoid a flock of birds in his flightpath, which resulted in an “increased and abnormal rate of descent.”
He was then unable to arrest the descent, and the “main landing gear made very hard contact with the runway.”
The Cessna T337 bounced, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane came to rest nose down on the runway at the airport in Linden, N.J.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall.
The FAA Airport Facility Diagram page for the destination airport in part states: “Birds on and invof [in vicinity of] arpt.”
Probable cause: The pilot’s abrupt maneuver to avoid birds during short final approach, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing.
NTSB Identification: GAA17CA162
This February 2017 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.
You surly never want to push forward on the yoke on short final, bad news will and probably will ensue.. Fly through the birds if necessary, but don’t push forward on the yoke…
Here in the Sacramento valley, the migratory birds are numerous. Our local flight instructors teach to climb and turn away from birds, since their evasive maneuver is to dive.
Encountering birds on short final should cause the pilot to go-around…..climb away from the birds.
If you still hit any birds, they will most likely hit the belly, or the underside of the wings, causing less damage, vs the leading edge or going through the windscreen.