Incident
On August 19, 2009, at approximately 0900 central daylight time, a Cessna 172P, registration N64344, operated by the Pensacola Navy Flying Club, was substantially damaged during a landing at Pensacola Regional Airport (PNS) in Pensacola, Florida. The certificated student pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the solo instructional flight, conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the student pilot had intended to fly a solo cross-country flight to Mobile, Alabama. However, due to inclement weather there, he decided to remain in the traffic pattern at Pensacola for touch-and-go landings. During one of these landings, the student pilot landed hard but did not subsequently report the event to any club personnel.
Aftermath
The damage to the airplane was discovered on August 20, 2009, and included a cut nose wheel tire, a damaged nose strut, and wrinkling of the engine firewall. The damage was not reported to either the FAA or the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) at that time. It came to the attention of the FAA in early November 2009, when a ferry permit was requested for the aircraft.
Club officials reported that the student pilot flew the airplane for 0.5 hours on the day of the accident. During a subsequent flight in another Cessna 172, the same student pilot lost control of the airplane, veering off the runway and snapping off the nose landing gear. The student pilot then left the club and was not responsive to emails or telephone calls.
Findings
Student pilots who flew the accident airplane on the three previous flights with a flight instructor noted no pre- or post-flight mechanical anomalies or damage. The flight instructor for those flights also confirmed no damage before or after the flights.
Winds recorded at the airport around the time of the accident were from 130 degrees true at 13 knots. It is unknown which runway was being used by the student pilot when the accident occurred; however, winds favored runway 17.