What happened
The aircraft was engaged in student flight training when the incident occurred. The student pilot was performing touch-and-go landings under shifting and gusty wind conditions. During one approach, a sudden gust of wind struck the aircraft while it was on short final approach. The student was unable to recover control before experiencing a hard landing followed by a bounce.
The low-time instructor pilot attempted to take control of the aircraft but did so too late to prevent a second hard landing. This subsequent impact caused the nose gear to collapse.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the flight training activity and the weather conditions at the time of the accident. The primary finding was that the gusty wind conditions contributed significantly to the loss of control during the touch-and-go maneuver.
Findings
Contributing factors included the shifting, gusty wind conditions which made the touch-and-go landings difficult. The low experience level of the instructor pilot also played a role, as they were unable to intervene in time to prevent the second hard landing that resulted in structural damage to the nose gear.