According to the pilot, he was landing to the west during the late afternoon. As the airplane was in the flare, the pilot lost his visual reference with the ground due to the sun's glare, momentarily blinding him. He began to perform a go-around maneuver; however, the airplane landed hard and porpoised three times, resulting in substantial damage to the firewall and nose section. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. According to data from the United States Naval Observatory, official sunset was at 1919. According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, about the time of the accident, the sun would have been about 275 degrees magnetic and about 2 degrees above the horizon.