What happened
On August 31, 2009, a Cessna 152, registration N5155B, was performing a full-stop landing in Merced, California. During the landing flare, the student pilot failed to maintain adequate pitch control, causing the aircraft to touch down hard and bounce back into the air. This resulted in a wheelbarrow-type oscillation on the nose wheel. As the pilot attempted to arrest the descent, the nose wheel struck the runway surface with enough force to cause the nose gear strut to collapse and damage the aircraft's firewall.
There were no injuries resulting from the accident. The weather at the time was visual meteorological conditions (VMC) with a visibility of 10 statute miles and winds from 280 degrees at 07 knots.