Primary finding
Probable cause
The flight instructor’s inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action and the student pilot’s failure to maintain a proper landing flare, which resulted in a nose down impact with the runway.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The student pilot and flight instructor were practicing touch-and-go landings with a left crosswind of about 5 knots. The student pilot reported that the airplane began to drift right during the landing flare. As he corrected for the right drift, the airplane pitched nose down and landed on the nose landing gear. The nose landing gear then collapsed, and the airplane slid to a stop on the runway in a nose down attitude. Several engine mount tubes fractured when the nose landing gear collapsed aft. The student pilot reported that he did not maintain a proper landing flare while he corrected for the right drift.