What happened
On June 30, 2019, a Cessna 150G, registration LV-CMY, was conducting a general aviation flight instruction mission at the Villa María Regional Airport in Córdoba, Argentina. The flight involved a student pilot and a flight instructor from the Aeroclub Villa María. After completing several circuits and touch-and-go landings, the instructor exited the aircraft to allow the student pilot to complete the training session solo.
The student pilot successfully performed four landings on runway 20 without incident. However, during the fifth and final planned circuit, the aircraft experienced an abnormal contact with the runway. As the nose wheel touched the pavement, the nose gear collapsed and detached from the fork, causing the propeller to strike the runway and the aircraft to slide along the pavement for approximately 138 meters until it came to a stop.
The investigation
Investigators examined the runway markings and the wreckage to reconstruct the landing sequence. The evidence showed that the main landing gear first contacted the runway 216 meters from the threshold, two meters to the left of the centerline. Approximately ten meters later, the propeller made contact with the surface.
The investigation focused on the physical state of the nose gear, noting that the wheel itself was deformed from the impact. The investigation also included statements from the flight instructor, who was positioned near the runway threshold and observed that the landing was particularly harsh.
Findings
- The aircraft experienced an abnormal contact with the runway.
- The landing was characterized by a heavy impact where the nose wheel touched the ground only half a second after the main gear.
- The nose gear assembly failed due to a fracture in the axle, which caused the wheel to detach.
- The primary cause of the gear failure was the improper aircraft leveling technique used during the landing, which prevented the necessary dissipation of kinetic energy.
- At the time of the incident, the student pilot was performing only their second solo flight and sixth solo landing.