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ERA14CA197

2014-04-11 · Leesburg, Florida, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LEE

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's inadequate landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

According to the student pilot, he was cleared to land and set up a "steady" approach to the runway. Then, he flared the airplane "too high," it "bounced," and then impacted the runway in a "flat" attitude. The nose landing gear separated and the airplane came to rest on the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to the student pilot, he was cleared to land and set up a "steady" approach to the runway. Then, he flared the airplane "too high," it "bounced," and then impacted the runway in a "flat" attitude. The nose landing gear separated and the airplane came to rest on the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2014_ERA14CA197.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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