NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA94LA083
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE STUDENT'S IMPROPER FLARE FOR LANDING AND THE INSTRUCTOR'S DELAYED REMEDIAL ACTION.
Factual narrative
On March 11, 1994, approximately 1300 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 172, N52807, experienced a hard landing at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. The CFI and her student were not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The FAR Part 91 dual instructional flight, which departed the same location about 5 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation. According to the CFI, during one of the student's touch-and-go landings, he either forced the nose gear of the aircraft onto the runway, or suddenly released back-pressure, allowing the aircraft's nose to rapidly drop. This resulted in the nosewheel contacting the runway prior to the main gear with enough force to result in substantial damage to the firewall. The CFI took control of the aircraft during the landing attempt, but not in time to prevent the hard landing. DURING AN ATTEMPTED TOUCH-AND-GO LANDING, THE DUAL STUDENT PILOT ALLOWED THE NOSE GEAR TO CONTACT THE RUNWAY PRIOR TO THE MAINS. THE NOSEWHEEL IMPACTED WITH SUFFICIENT ENERGY TO RESULT IN SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO THE AIRCRAFT'S FIREWALL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_SEA94LA083.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 2019 · Conference Paper
Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
Validation of Training Satisfaction Survey
The Training Satisfaction Survey (TSS) was developed as part of a larger project to examine the features of Virtual Reality software and supporting devices as a training program on visual illusions an…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Data in Brief)
Cockpit voice recorder transcript data: Capturing safety voice and safety listening during historic aviation accidents
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts capture audio data within cockpit environments. This aids the investigation of causal factors contributing to aviation accidents by revealing communication and…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Safety Science)
Safety voice and safety listening during aviation accidents: Cockpit voice recordings reveal that speaking-up to power is not enough
Abstract Safety voice is theorised as an important factor for mitigating accidents, but behavioural research during actual hazards has been scant.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Can Backward-Chained, Ab-Initio Pilot Training Decrease Time to First Solo?
Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and co…
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