Primary finding
Probable cause
The student pilot's improper flare and recovery from the ensuing bounced landing.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The student pilot was conducting his first supervised solo. On the second landing the student pilot improperly flared the airplane and sustained a hard landing. The student pilot overcorrected from the bounced landing and the airplane porpoised three times subsequently collapsing the nose landing gear.
Source record
Factual narrative
On Saturday, August 21, 1993, at 0720 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 152, N6596P, porpoised on landing and collapsed the nose gear on runway 19 at Glendale Municipal Airport, Glendale, Arizona. The noncertificated student pilot was conducting his first local visual flight rules solo instructional flight. The airplane, registered to and operated by Sawyer Aviation, Phoenix, Arizona, sustained substantial damage. The noncertificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and the reported surface winds were calm. The flight originated at Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, Arizona, at about 0705 hours. The pilot reported in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1/2, that he was completing his second of three planned supervised solo touch and go takeoffs and landings. The approach was normal, but the airplane ballooned during the flare. The student pilot said that he "over-corrected" for the ballooning and the airplane porpoised three times when the nose gear collapsed. -