What happened
On July 2, 2009, a student pilot was conducting his first solo flight in a Cessna 172S, registration N538ND, at Grand Forks, ND. The flight involved a series of landings, the first two of which the pilot reported as uneventful. However, during the third landing, the aircraft experienced a hard landing. There were no injuries resulting from the event.
The investigation
An inspection of the aircraft following the accident revealed that one of the propeller blade tips was curled due to contact with the runway. Additionally, the engine firewall was found to be substantially deformed.