Skip to content

GAA16CA059

2015-11-16 · Westminster, Maryland, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DMW

Current FAA registration · N26499

Make / Model
CESSNA 172R
Year of manufacture
1999 · 16 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19990719
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A2918E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's failure to maintain pitch control during the landing, which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor reported that during landing, the student pilot landed the airplane on its main landing gear, the airplane bounced, and then landed flat on the main landing gear and nose wheel at the same time. At the end of the instructional lesson, the airplane landed at the flight school without further incident. A hard landing was reported to the maintenance department and a postflight inspection revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The flight instructor reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The flight instructor reported that during landing, the student pilot landed the airplane on its main landing gear, the airplane bounced, and then landed flat on the main landing gear and nose wheel at the same time. At the end of the instructional lesson, the airplane landed at the flight school without further incident. A hard landing was reported to the maintenance department and a postflight inspection revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The flight instructor reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine 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-Pitch control-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_2015_GAA16CA059.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (maintenance). All research papers