NTSB ERA21LA180 — 2021-04-06 · Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States

Current FAA registration · N22467

Make / Model: CESSNA 172S
Year of manufacture: 2007 · 14 years old at event
Engine: LYCOMING IO-360-L2A (180 hp)
Seats / Engines: 4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20070504
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A1F327

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N22467 Cessna 172S None

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot’s improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The student pilot reported that he was conducting a solo cross-country flight and during the first landing, the approach was fast, the airplane porpoised twice, and touched down hard. He added power on the second bounce and the airplane began to fly again but was too far down the runway to land. There was an intersecting runway to the right, so he turned slightly and landed on that runway. Once the nose landing gear contacted the runway it collapsed, the airplane veered to the right, and then came to rest off the right side of the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions 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.

— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained
— Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA180.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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