Incident Overview
During a training flight focused on soft field landings, an airplane experienced a ground loop after veering off the runway. The instructor reported that the first two landing attempts resulted in hard touchdowns. For the third landing, the instructor directed the student to perform a landing flare without touching down on the runway surface and then execute a go-around.
Sequence of Events
The student pilot allowed the airplane's landing gear to contact the runway: first the left main landing gear, then the right main landing gear. The instructor instructed the student to maintain backpressure on the yoke to prevent the nose landing gear from touching down. However, the nose landing gear touched down, and the airplane began to drift to the left. The instructor then told the student to apply full power to initiate a go-around. The student applied full power, and the airplane veered further to the left.
As the airplane was departing the runway surface, the instructor took control of the flight controls. The left wing tip struck soft dirt. While attempting to correct the left turn, the airplane's right wing contacted the runway surface. The airplane subsequently came to rest on the runway.
Post-Incident Observations
The instructor stated that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures prior to or during the incident.