Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee, G-BCGJ, 3 September 2011

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee, G-BCGJ

Summary:

Following a session of five dual circuits, all of which were described by the student’s instructor as being well flown, the student was instructed to delay flying solo circuits until the cloudbase had risen above 1,500 ft aal. This occurred approximately 30 minutes later and the instructor, who was flying in another aircraft, authorised the student by radio to fly a session of solo circuits. Runway 19 was in use and the surface wind was reported by ATC as 210º at 14 kt.

The student flew two circuits successfully but on the third circuit the aircraft was observed to bounce on landing, becoming airborne again. It was then observed to pitch nose-down before bouncing for a second time, following which the aircraft struck the runway causing the nose landing gear to detach. The aircraft remained on the runway, sliding to a halt on its nose and after turning the fuel selector, ignition and battery master switch to OFF, the student vacated the aircraft.

The instructor commented that the student had been trained to go-around after a bounced landing and that additional training on this point would be provided to assist the student in regaining confidence following the accident.

Download report:

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee G-BCGJ 01-12.pdf (207.52 kb)

Published 10 December 2014