Incident Details
A student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings in an airplane. During the first approach, the pilot felt the approach was too high and pitched down slightly, then leveled off and landed on the main landing gear. After touchdown, the airplane porpoised twice before landing flat and hard.
The pilot then taxied back to the hangar and had the airplane examined for damage. No damage was found, so the pilot took off again and continued the training flight. However, sometime after the flight, the firewall was found to be buckled.
Pilot's Recommendation
The student pilot recommended that to prevent such an incident, pilots should add power and initiate a go-around when an approach is too high rather than pitch down.