Reid Hillview Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

San Jose, California 95122
Friday, April 1, 2005 13:25 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane landed hard as the student pilot was practicing a soft field landing. The student said he flared too high and reduced the power to idle at the same time, which resulted in a hard landing. The student had been practicing short and soft field takeoffs and landings with his instructor. The instructor believed the student pilot was ready to practice on his own. The accident flight was the student's fourth solo flight, and was an unsupervised solo.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the student pilot's misjudged landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 4/1/2005
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1325
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City San Jose
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95122
Event Date Year 2005
Event Date Month 4
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 371900N
Event Location Longitude 1214919W
Event Location Airport Reid Hillview
Event Location Nearest Airport ID KRHV
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 --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID SJC
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation --
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 20000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 16000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 22
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 8
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 320
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 11
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.16
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 18000
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Apr 1 2005 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1345
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Jul 7 2005 10:33AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-SJC-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N4789G
NTSB Number LAX05CA128
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion --
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model 172N
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 17273343
Certified Max Gross Weight --
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 --
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed Unknown
ELT Activated Unknown
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Norman O. Flisram
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City --
Aircraft Owner State --
Aircraft Owner Country --
Aircraft Owner Zipcode --
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name American School of Aviation
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 2635 Cunningham Rd.
Operator City San Jose
Operator State CA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 95148
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
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 --
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code KRHV
Departure City San Jose
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time --
Departure Time Zone PST
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code KRHV
Destination City San Jose
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - flare/touchdown
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record May 4 2005 5:51PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 31L
Runway Length 3099
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --