Incident Details
A student pilot was conducting her second solo cross-country flight. She departed from Donaldson Center near Greenville, South Carolina, and flew to Athens, Georgia, where she completed a touch-and-go landing. She then proceeded to McCormick, South Carolina, and flew over the airport to check the windsock, which favored runway 36.
While on either base or final approach, the pilot reported that the wind was "switching around." She flew a normal final approach using the slip method to correct for drift. Upon touchdown, the pilot stated that the airplane touched down hard on all three wheels, and the next thing she knew, the airplane had come to a stop on its nose.
Pilot Experience
At the time of the incident, the student had accumulated about 15 hours in the airplane, of which 5 hours were solo time.