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CHI90LA008

1989-10-12 · ROCK FALLS, Illinois, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SQI

N9157S has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (MOONEY M20M, built 1994), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER FLARE BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN A HARD LANDING.

Factual narrative

STUDENT PILOT WAS ON HIS FIRST CROSS COUNTRY SOLO, AND SET UP APPROACH IN TRAFFIC PATTERN AT DESTINATION AIRPORT UTILIZING VASI ON FINAL APPROACH. STUDENT STATED AIRCRAFT HIT THE RUNWAY HARD AND BOUNCED. ON SECOND GROUND CONTACT, PROP HIT RUNWAY. ON THIRD GROUND CONTACT, NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED AND AIRCRAFT SLID TO A STOP. COCKPIT STARTED FILLING WITH SMOKE, STUDENT EXITED AIRCRAFT UNINJURED. STUDENT NOTICED FIRE UNDER AIRCRAFT BEING FED BY STREAM OF FUEL FROM RIGHT WING TANK SUMP DRAIN. AIRCRAFT WAS CONSUMED BY FIRE BEFORE IT COULD BE EXTINGUISHED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_CHI90LA008.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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