TRAINEE BOUNCED LNDG AND HIT PROP.

Date: 1999-03 · Aircraft: Cheetah; Tiger; Traveler AA5 Series

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|ground-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

TRAINEE BOUNCED LNDG AND HIT PROP.

Narrative

DURING MY FIRST SOLO; I STARTED THE AIRPLANE; TAXIED TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 8 AT OMN; UTILIZED THE APPROPRIATE CHKLIST; AND COMPLETED A NORMAL TKOF ROLL AND DEP. FLYING L TFC; I EXECUTED A NORMAL TFC PATTERN AND DID MY PRE-LNDG CHKS. I FLEW A NORMAL FINAL LEG; AND BROUGHT THE ENG TO IDLE AS SOON AS I HAD THE RWY MADE. I FLARED THE ACFT BUT MANAGED TO BOUNCE IT RELATIVELY VIOLENTLY. THE EVENTS HAPPENED VERY QUICKLY AND I'M NOT SURE HOW HIGH IT BOUNCED; BUT IT FELT MUCH ROUGHER THAN ANYTHING I HAD EVER EXPERIENCED IN AN ACFT. THE ACFT PORPOISED 2 MORE TIMES IN QUICK SUCCESSION BEFORE I WAS ABLE TO GET A HANDLE ON THE SIT AND INPUT SOME CTL INTO THE ACFT. I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS AND MOST LIKELY WAS FROZEN FOR AT LEAST A FEW SECONDS. ON THE THIRD BOUNCE I DEFINITELY CAME DOWN ON THE NOSE GEAR BEFORE THE MAINS; AND AT THIS TIME I STRUCK BOTH ENDS OF THE PROP ON THE RWY SURFACE. I HEARD A VERY LOUD 'CRACK' NOISE AND; UNAWARE THAT I HAD STRUCK THE PROP; I THOUGHT THAT THE NOISE WAS THE NOSE GEAR BEING DAMAGED. AS SOON AS I HEARD THIS I ADDED FULL THROTTLE; RETRACTED THE FLAPS; AND INITIATED A GAR. I CLBED OUT AND NOTICED THAT THE AIRPLANE'S CLB PERFORMANCE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED; CLBING MUCH SLOWER THAN IT NORMALLY DID. I EXTENDED MY UPWIND LEG ALMOST UNTIL REACHING THE ESTABLISHED PATTERN ALT OF 1000 FT MSL TO GIVE MYSELF SOME MORE TIME TO DEAL WITH THE PROB. I FLEW A LARGER PATTERN; BECAUSE OF THE EXTENDED UPWIND LEG; AND I ACTIVELY PLANNED FOR A POSSIBLE OFF-ARPT LNDG SINCE I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE ENG ITSELF. I FLEW A NORMAL PATTERN; ALTHOUGH THE ACFT REQUIRED ALMOST FULL THROTTLE TO MAINTAIN 80-90 KTS IN STRAIGHT AND LEVEL FLT IN THE PATTERN. I HAD NO CONTACT WITH MY CFI; WHO WAS ON THE GND AT THE TIME; ALTHOUGH I WAS ANNOUNCING MY INTENTIONS ON THE UNICOM TO THE OTHER 2 OR 3 ACFT IN THE PATTERN. I FLEW ANOTHER APCH AND LANDED THE ACFT NORMALLY JUST AS I HAD DONE DURING 3 PREVIOUS TRIPS AROUND THE PATTERN WITH MY INSTRUCTOR. MY SETTING OF THE ENG'S RPM WITH THE THROTTLE DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY DURING THE SECOND APCH BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGED PROP. AFTER SHUTTING DOWN THE ENG IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT ABOUT 4 INCHES OF EITHER END OF THE PROP WAS COMPLETELY BENT; 90 DEGS; AWAY FROM THE AIRPLANE.

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