Light aircraft pilot reported some damage resulted from an unstabilized approach and hard landing at ZZZ airport.

Date: 2025-06 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear · Phase: landing

Anomalies: ground-event-encounter-ground-strike-aircraft|ground-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach

Synopsis

Light aircraft pilot reported some damage resulted from an unstabilized approach and hard landing at ZZZ airport.

Narrative

I took aircraft X to ZZZ. My two passengers and I started the day at ZZZ2 at XA:00 preflighting. The plan was to practice short field landings at ZZZ1 before possibly moving on to ZZZ3 and/or ZZZ depending on how satisfied I was with the landings. I had minimal time in a 182. I did one full stop and three touch and go's at ZZZ1 and each one was better than the last. Although; on each of them I ended up slightly high and fast on short final resulting in me pulling power to idle and gliding into ground effect before adding power to smooth out the landing. Nevertheless; I felt that my landings met my personal standard enough to safely operate out of ZZZ. During a previous flight to ZZZ with an instructor; I was taught to only take off to the west but that you could land in either direction. Landing to the East consists of a relatively standard left hand traffic pattern. But; there isn't a good go-around option from short final. Landing to the West however; you fly a normal left downwind before dropping over a saddle to the east of the field. Over the saddle; you follow the river on an elongated; angled base leg before turning onto short final when the river bends to parallel the airstrip. There are trees at the threshold; but it shouldn't be a problem for a 2;200 foot strip. It is a blind approach; but enables you to go around if need be.As we overflew the field; I noted that winds were dead calm. Considering my inexperience in this type of aircraft; I elected to land to the West. Determining that if I couldn't fly a stabilized approach to the west; I probably shouldn't be landing here at all and that if that turned out to be the case; I could always go around. As I flew the valley; I aimed too low but didn't realize it until I turned final. I was on speed. This should have sent off mental warnings; but it didn't. I added power and increased my AOA to try and catch something of a normal approach gradient. I'm not positive of my speed although I wouldn't be surprised if I bled off a couple knots trying to arrest my descent (the last anyone in the plane checked my ASI was as I started slowing my descent and I was 3 knots fast). I came over the trees at a relatively shallow angle with a high power setting and high AOA. Unfortunately; I did what I've done hundreds of times in 172s and the last four landings in the 182. I pulled power to idle and pitched over to keep a flying airspeed.Almost immediately; I felt the high descent rate. The rapid loss of lift from pulling power felt almost exactly like a low level stall in a 172. So; I added power at the very least; to arrest our descent. But at that point; I don't think it did much. We landed hard and flat. The nose gear collapsed and the prop dug into the ground as we came to a stop. Thankfully; no one was injured. This event has already been reported.In my opinion; the main cause was my inexperience in the aircraft and my poor decision making in bringing this aircraft to a somewhat difficult airstrip. I should not have been there to begin with; I should have gone around when I first identified I was low; I should have been smoother with my power reduction; and I should have identified issues with my approach much earlier on.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.