What happened
The incident occurred during a training flight involving a student pilot undertaking her initial solo operation. Upon approaching the runway for landing, the aircraft touched down with excessive force. The heavy impact caused the airplane to bounce off the pavement and subsequently begin porpoising along the runway surface.
During this unstable sequence, the nose landing gear failed structurally. The collapse of the front gear resulted in significant damage to the nose landing gear assembly itself and extended to the firewall structure behind it. Following the event, the student pilot confirmed that there were no prior mechanical malfunctions or failures reported with the aircraft before the impact.
The investigation
Post-acc examination revealed the extent of the structural damage caused by the hard landing. The nose landing gear was found collapsed, and the firewall sustained damage from the subsequent contact with the ground.