Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
La Porte Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
La Porte, Texas 77571
Tuesady, September 21, 1999 20:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The solo student pilot landed the airplane hard on the nose landing gear after touching down long on the 4,165 foot long runway. The airplane subsequently bounced and porpoised, resulting in the collapse of the nose landing gear. The student pilot was scheduled for a two-leg day VFR cross country flight. During the first leg of the flight, the student pilot was temporarily disoriented, and ended up flying 30 minutes beyond his intended destination. The pilot was able to land at an airport, where he topped off the airplane with fuel. The unscheduled landing delayed the pilot's scheduled itinerary by at least one hour. Dark night conditions prevailed by the time he entered the traffic pattern on the downwind leg for runway 30. The pilot reported that he was high on his first approach, and executed a go-around. The student pilot had 2.6 hours of night flight with his flight instructor, and he had not been cleared for night solo flights.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's hard landing as result of his improper landing flare and his improper recovery from a bounced landing. Factors were the prevailing dark night conditions and the student pilot's lack of total experience in night operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/21/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2030 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | LA PORTE |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77571 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LA PORTE MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | T41 |
| 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 | 25 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 618 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 22 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1230 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:01AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5093Q |
| NTSB Number | FTW99LA264 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 152 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15285073 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1675 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 10 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 8617 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DE AVIATION INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 101 AIRPORT BLVD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | LA PORTE |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77571 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | HARVEY & RIHN AVIATION INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | VCT |
| Departure City | VICTORIA |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | T41 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 12:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 4165 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |