NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA17CA221
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The student pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing.
Factual narrative
The student pilot performed three landings earlier that day with his flight instructor, then was signed off for his first solo flight. The student departed and remained in the traffic pattern, and the airplane bounced during the first landing. After bouncing three times, the nose landing gear fork and wheel assembly separated, and the propeller impacted the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount and firewall. The operator reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The student pilot performed three landings earlier that day with his flight instructor and then was signed off for his first solo flight. The student departed and remained in the traffic pattern, and the airplane bounced during the first landing. After bouncing three times, the nose landing gear fork and wheel assembly separated, and the propeller impacted the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount and firewall. The operator reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or 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_2017_ERA17CA221.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Poster
Sleep, Sleepiness, and Performance Across Three In-Flight Bunk Rest Opportunities
Introduction: Airline pilots are required to take a rest break in a bunk during long-haul flights in an effort to reduce sleepiness during critical phases of flight.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article (Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy)
Routine opioid outcome monitoring in community pharmacy: Outcomes from an open-label single-arm implementation-effectiveness pilot study.
BACKGROUND In response to rising harms with prescription opioids, recent attention has focused on how to better utilise community pharmacists to monitor outcomes with opioid medicines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2011 · Journal article (JAAER)
System Safety Study: Pedagogical Aviation Action Research
Action Research (AR) is a scientific methodology whereby researchers participate in a research setting for data collection and problem resolution.
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