Accident Overview
During a solo training flight, a student pilot experienced a hard landing and subsequent bounce while attempting to land. After aborting the landing, the airplane impacted terrain adjacent to the runway, sustaining substantial damage.
Sequence of Events
According to the student pilot’s report, she had previously completed one full-stop landing with her instructor. The instructor then exited the airplane, and the student pilot proceeded to perform three solo landings. On the first solo landing attempt, she turned onto final approach and selected 40 degrees of flaps. She reduced engine power once she determined that she had the runway made.
The student pilot reported that she flared too soon, causing the airplane to land hard and bounce back into the air. She added engine power, which caused the airplane to balloon upward further. Deciding to abort the landing, she applied full engine power and began retracting the flaps ("dumping the flaps"). She stated that the airplane would not climb and drifted left of the runway. The airplane then descended and impacted terrain off the side of the runway.
Damage and Other Information
The airplane was substantially damaged in the impact. The student pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane. In her accident report, she opined that the accident could have been prevented by practicing more aborted landing procedures.