The pilot reported that during the landing touchdown at night, she underestimated how high she was. She reported that the airplane landed on the main landing gear, "bounced back up," then landed on the nose landing gear, and that "it was a hard landing, bouncing a couple of times." A postflight inspection revealed substantial damage to the firewall.

The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.