Background
The student pilot was conducting his first solo cross-country flight. The arrival and departure at his first airport were uneventful.
Flight
Approximately 8 miles from the second airport, the pilot listened to the airport's automatic weather observation system, which reported wind from 020° at 5 knots. He entered the left traffic pattern for runway 34. On the downwind leg abeam the runway end, he reduced engine power to idle and lowered the wing flaps to 10°. He then turned onto a left base leg, maintaining 70 knots. On final approach, he lowered the wing flaps to 30° and maintained an airspeed between 50 and 54 knots.
Accident
At the runway numbers, the pilot began to pull back on the control wheel to initiate the landing flare. The nose of the airplane then abruptly pitched up and to the left, which he believed felt like a gust of wind. He attempted to correct by releasing back pressure on the control wheel and using rudder and ailerons to return to the right, but the airplane remained left of the runway centerline. Subsequently, the airplane bounced hard numerous times, the propeller struck the runway, and the airplane departed the runway to the left. During the runway excursion, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane skidded across a taxiway, eventually stopping in the grass.
Post-Accident
The fuselage and firewall were substantially damaged. The student pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Review of the Pilot's Operating Handbook indicated that airspeed for a normal landing should have been 60–70 knots with the wing flaps down.