Cessna 152 CS-DAT Hard Landing at Cascais Municipal Aerodrome

Incident Overview On 3 March 2003, a Cessna 152 with registration CS-DAT, operated by Leávia – Escola de Aviação Civil, S.A., was involved in an incident at the Aeródromo Municipal de Cascais. The aircraft was conducting a training flight for takeoffs and landings as part of a pilot training course. ## Flight History The flight departed Cascais Municipal Aerodrome at 15:00 UTC with a 36-year-old male student pilot and a 24-year-old male flight instructor on board. After completing six landings on runway 17, the instructor assessed that the student met the criteria for solo flight and disembarked around 15:30 UTC, instructing the student to complete several solo circuits. During the student's first solo circuit, at approximately 15:40 UTC, the aircraft touched down on the runway with all three wheels simultaneously at a speed of about 70 knots. The aircraft bounced back into the air. The pilot attempted to correct by pushing the control column forward to lower the nose, but the nose gear struck the runway with significant force before the pilot could flare the aircraft. ## Damage and Injuries The impact caused the nose gear leg to fracture, with damage to the engine mount structure and the propeller tips bending backward after striking the runway. The aircraft came to rest on its main gear and was stopped using the brakes. The student pilot, the sole occupant at the time, was uninjured. No third-party damage was reported. ## Aircraft and Crew The Cessna 152 was a single-engine, high-wing, tricycle-gear aircraft with a maximum takeoff mass of 758 kg, powered by a 110 BHP Lycoming O-235-L2C engine. The student pilot held a valid student pilot authorization and had 51 hours 15 minutes of total flight time, including 10 minutes of solo time. The instructor held a commercial pilot license with instrument and multi-engine ratings and over 1,200 hours of flight experience. ## Meteorology Weather conditions were good, with light winds from the west, scattered clouds at 2,000 feet, visibility over 10 km, and a temperature of approximately 20°C. The investigation did not consider weather to have influenced the incident.