This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
I am a flight instructor who endorsed my student pilot to complete his first solo cross-country.
My knowledge is second hand as it’s based on what my student told me regarding a hard landing back at ZZZ Field that day.
When he came into land he bounced and made the mistake of not going around immediately. The airplane bounced two more times and then he taxied off.
He then secured the plane and did a post inspection and saw no damage.
A day after his cross-country the plane flew with multiple other student pilots for more than six more flight hours.
On Day 2, the airplane went into a 100-hour inspection where they found that the firewall was bent.
On Day 7, I was told the plane sustained substantial damage.
On that day the flight school told my student training would be suspended until further notice.
Prior to knowing my student would be suspended, my plan was to complete a ground safety session regarding the importance of going around in different situations and practice just landings with him until he built the confidence and skill he needs to make better judgment calls.
Due to the fact the airplane does have the damage that it does I am reporting the situation as I know it as the endorsing instructor.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2050035
How do we know the student bent thecairplane? It flew a number of times after the bounced landing without anyone realizing it, and for that matter may have been bent prior to his bounced landing. The teaching moment was lost when the student was unfairly punished. Time to find a new school.
English, ah, it’s a dying art. Like good radio calls, or maybe there never were any. I’ve been looking, calling out “Any good radio calls in the area, please advise.” But I digressify.
This instructor’s report:
How about saying “When he landed…” or “When he came in to land….” which is kinda awkward, but better than saying “When he came into land…” which makes it sound like he inherited land from his Grandpa or something. He came into four hundred acres of land in the will.
How about this gem: A day after his cross-country the plane flew with multiple other student pilots for more than six more flight hours.
I propose: “A day more after his cross-country the plane flew with multiple other student pilots for more than six more flight hours more.”
More is better.
The posts are intended to inform and I feel this specific post did exactly that. The importance of “going around” on a difficult landing. We should not disuade people from posting by nitpicking their grammar. On the point from the posting, I am a flight student currently and my instructor has a “golden rule” on Solo requirements for landings. I must hit 10 landings in a row and three or fewer of those may be go arounds. I should be “good enough (70%)” to land or “smart enough (100%)” to know better than to force a landing before I can solo. I have not done this yet, so I continue to practice. Hopefully my grammaer meets the tough standards of this site.
You split hairs and infinitives to the point of making yourself appear silly and irrelevant. I suspect you and I may be the same in that I am not a pilot
It’s a human universal truth: whenever anything happens, the organization needs to finger some poor guy and punish him to make them feel better about themselves — regardless of any culpability of the guy fingered. Sounds like that’s the case here with the instructor.
Yes – is the problem with the student or with the instructor. And is the problem with go-arounds or how to round out and land safely. The first step really may be that the flight school needs to re-evaluate the instructor.
Unfortunately, this is an old story often repeated. Hubris is a deadly adversary disguised as a friend.
I guess going forward we will have to be careful about using the phrase “HARD LANDING”.
Elsewhere in the world, a Hard Landing in a Helicopter can apparently mean NO SURVIVORS!
Jerry King
Suspended for having a bad landing? I never would have gotten my license if I got suspended when I bounced hard. Sounds more like a bad flight school.
I know of a Doctor who purchased a C-150 to completed his training and has logged less than 50 hours. He sold the 150 and purchased an SR22. When he bends that airplane I won’t be surprised.