What happened
The incident occurred during a dual instructional flight focused on practicing landings in a conventional gear aircraft. As the student pilot approached the turf runway, they abruptly pitched the aircraft's nose downward toward the surface. The instructor pilot did not take any remedial action to correct the attitude or initiate a go-around. Consequently, the aircraft struck the ground hard, causing the main landing gear to collapse. The plane then skidded to a halt in a nose-down position on the runway.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the immediate sequence of events leading to the impact. It was determined that the abrupt nose-down input by the student pilot was the primary factor. The lack of corrective action by the instructor allowed the aircraft to continue its descent until ground contact occurred. The structural damage was limited to the collapse of the main gear due to the excessive vertical load during the hard landing.
Findings
The primary finding is that the student pilot lost control of the pitch attitude during the final approach phase. The instructor pilot failed to intervene in time to prevent the accident. This highlights the critical importance of timely intervention during dual instruction, particularly when a student demonstrates poor judgment or loss of aircraft control. The conventional gear configuration may have contributed to the severity of the nose-down attitude upon impact.
Safety message
Instructors must remain vigilant and ready to take immediate control of the aircraft if a student pilot deviates significantly from safe flight parameters. Early intervention is essential to prevent accidents during critical phases of flight such as landing.