Nose Landing Gear Separation During Hard Landing on Short Grass Runway (N5464B)

Incident Overview and Pilot Statement During the approach to a 1,600-foot grass runway, the pilot stated that he elected to land to the south due to prevailing winds at the departure airport. The pilot noted that he had never landed at the airstrip before and had no experience flying into short runways. He entered the landing pattern with full flaps extended. During the landing sequence, the airplane touched down hard on the nose landing gear, bounced, then touched down again and nosed over. ## Runway Examination and Damage Assessment Examination of the runway revealed a 1 1/2-inch deep ground scar made by the nose landing gear approximately 120 feet from the approach end of the runway. The separated nose landing gear was located about 250 feet from the approach end of the runway.