Piper PA34 N15412 accident near Mount Pleasant, Texas

Probable cause

The pilot's hard, bounced landing and the flight instructor's delayed remedial action, which resulted in a fracture of the nose landing gear mounting structure.

NTSB analysis

During the instructional cross-country flight, the pilot receiving instruction was in the left seat and manipulating the flight controls. During the landing attempt, the airplane bounced and became airborne again with a nose-high pitch attitude. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and continued the landing. Witnesses observed the airplane land hard, bounce, then the nose gear collapsed and punctured the fuselage and the windscreen. The airplane slid on the runway and came to rest upright. A postaccident examination revealed that the nose landing gear mounting structure was fractured at the lower truss. The mount was displaced upward and punctured the fuselage. The nose tire was partially deflated. The damage to the mounting structure was consistent with a hard landing on the nose landing gear.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN20TA025 for the full record.