What happened
On 18 August 2018, a DA 40 D aircraft, registration G-CCFS, was conducting a training flight at Full Sutton Airfield in Yorkshire. The aircraft was being operated by a student pilot performing solo circuit training. During the landing phase of the circuit, the aircraft experienced a hard landing, which caused the plane to veer to the left of the runway.
The impact resulted in damage to several components, including the nosewheel spat, the tailskid, the propeller, and the pitot tube located on the left wing. There were no injuries to the pilot, and no passengers were on board at the time of the incident.
The investigation
Investigators reviewed the accident report submitted by the pilot and examined the circumstances surrounding the landing. The investigation established that the student pilot had recently completed 35 hours of dual instruction and had successfully performed five previous solo landings.
Analysis of the flight profile indicated that the pilot flared the aircraft at too high an altitude and subsequently allowed the descent rate to increase too rapidly. This sequence of events directly led to the heavy impact with the runway. The pilot noted that the incident might have been prevented had a go-around procedure been initiated instead of attempting to continue the landing.