Probable cause
The student pilot’s improper recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s inadequate remedial action.
NTSB analysis
The certificated flight instructor and his student remained in the airport traffic pattern to practice several full-stop landings. While on approach the student flared high and the airplane dropped 8 to 10 feet, contacting the 3,375-foot-long by 50-foot-wide runway and then bouncing back into the air. While the pilot initiated a go-around, the airplane drifted left of the runway and the airplane's left wing impacted trees. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wing spar and came to rest on the edge of the runway. Neither the flight instructor nor the student reported any mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane.
Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA09CA341 for the full record.
Event
- Date
- Jun 13, 2009
- Type
- Accident
- Place
- West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Nearest airport
- Brandywine (OQN)
- Highest injury
- None
- Weather
- Visual (VMC)
- Light
- Day
Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA 40
- N-number
- N659PS
- Category
- Airplane
- Damage
- Substantial
- Operating rule
- Part 91 (general aviation)
- Purpose of flight
- Instructional
From the NTSB aviation accident database: N-registered aircraft, events since 2008, data through Oct 28, 2026. The file is published monthly, so the latest weeks are incomplete and recent records can change. The official source is the NTSB aviation investigation search. CheckAero is independent and not affiliated with the NTSB.