San Jose International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

San Jose, California 95110
Friday, April 25, 1997 13:42 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The accident occurred during the student's first supervised solo flight, which was observed by the student's certified flight instructor. The student's first two attempted landings terminated in go-arounds. During the next two approaches the student performed touch-and-go's, and the fifth approach terminated with another go-around. The accident occurred during the following attempted landing. The student made a hard bounced touchdown, ballooned 50 to 75 feet into the air and attempted to initiate a go-around. The student reduced the wing flap setting, increased the angle of attack, and the airplane stalled and rolled into a steep left bank and descended until contacting the ground. Thereafter, it cartwheeled and came to rest in a nose down attitude in an open field near the control tower. The student indicated that he should not have retracted the wing flaps so quickly while initiating the go-around.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The student pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed to preclude stalling following an improper recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing factors were the pilot's premature and excessive flap retraction and misjudged landing flare.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 4/25/1997
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1342
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City SAN JOSE
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95110
Event Date Year 1997
Event Date Month 4
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID SJC
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 58
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1342 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 0
Weather Observation Facility ID SJC
Elevation of weather observation facility 58
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 25000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Unknown
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 50
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 27
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 6
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 280
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 10
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Serious
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 780
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Apr 25 1997 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1420
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 8 2000 12:13PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N63754
NTSB Number LAX97LA167
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model 172P
Aircraft Series Identifier 172P
Aircraft Serial Number 17275478
Certified Max Gross Weight 2400
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 4
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Mar 21 1997 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 49
Airframe Hours 7409
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name GARY W. NIVA
Aircraft Owner Street Address 17200 RAMSEY ROAD
Aircraft Owner City WHITE CITY
Aircraft Owner State OR
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 97503
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name SQUADRON 2
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 1101 AIRPORT BLVD.
Operator City SAN JOSE
Operator State CA
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 95110
Operator Code
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation Unknown
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code SJC
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1320
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Approach
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:34AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 29
Runway Length 4599
Runway Width 100
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --