Accident Overview
A training flight involving an instructor and a student pilot ended in an accident while practicing normal takeoffs and landings. According to the pilot, on the sixth landing, the aircraft touched down on the main landing gear at the correct airspeed. Subsequently, the nose wheel collapsed, and the aircraft nosed over.
Investigation Findings
Doyal W. Miller, an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector, examined the accident scene. Tire scuff marks indicated that the aircraft had touched down nose first in a left crab, approximately 200 feet short of the runway threshold. After the initial touchdown, the aircraft slid on its nose, nosed over, and came to rest 130 feet from the touchdown marks. This evidence contradicted the pilot's account of a normal main-gear-first touchdown.
Control System Examination
Following the accident, maintenance personnel removed the bent panels and the broken nose strut. After these components were removed, the elevator controls were found to operate normally. No other control system anomalies were reported.
No details regarding the aircraft type, registration, operator, or location were provided in the source. The number of occupants, injuries, and the time of day were also unspecified.