Primary finding
Probable cause
The pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing, and failure to maintain directional control of the airplane. Factors related to the accident were: the pilot's improper flare for landing, the resultant porpoise, and the ditch near the side of the runway.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
A student pilot was making a touch-&-go landing during his first solo flight, when the airplaned touched down firmly & began to porpoise. The student initiated correctiive action to stop the porpoise, but the airplane went off the side of the runway, hit a ditch, & was damaged.
Source record
Factual narrative
On October 22, 1993, approximately 1445 mountain daylight time (MDT), a Piper PA-12, N3568M, impacted the terrain during an attempted touch-and-go landing at Ravalli County Airport, Hamilton, Montana. The student pilot, who was the sole occupant of the aircraft, was not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The solo instructional flight, which was being limited to pattern work, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation. According to his instructor, the student pilot, who was on his first solo flight, had made one full stop landing just prior to the accident. On the second time around the pattern he planned to make a touch-and-go landing, but the aircraft began "porpoising" after touchdown. During the pilot's attempts to correct for the porpoise, the aircraft departed the side of the runway and impacted a ditch. -