What happened
On March 19, 2011, at approximately 18:55 UTC, a Cessna 152 was performing night visual flight rules (NVFR) training at Linz Airport, Austria. The flight consisted of five solo take-offs and landings. During the fifth and final landing attempt, the aircraft experienced a heavy touchdown. The impact caused the aircraft to bounce from the runway twice.
Following the second bounce, the aircraft made a third contact with the ground, striking the nose gear first. The force of the impact caused the nose gear to break away toward the rear and right. This led to several subsequent ground contacts involving the propeller and the left wingtip. The aircraft eventually came to a stop on Runway 26. The pilot was able to evacuate the aircraft independently, and no injuries were reported, though the aircraft sustained significant damage.
The investigation
The SUB investigation reconstructed the sequence of events using statements from the student pilot, the flight instructor, and the airport operations manager. The investigation examined the aircraft's maintenance status, the pilot's training progress, and the environmental conditions. The instructor was monitoring the student from a brightly lit apron, which limited visibility of the touchdown zone due to the distance and the contrast in lighting.
Findings
- The student pilot initiated the flare too late, failing to reduce the sink rate sufficiently before touchdown.
- The pilot's attention was focused on reducing engine power to idle, which likely resulted in a failure to maintain adequate elevator back-pressure.
- The aircraft bounced due to an improper flare and insufficient reduction of sink rate.
- The nose gear failure was a direct result of the heavy third impact on the nose wheel.
- There were no mechanical failures or medical impairments identified in the pilot.