Probable cause
The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during landing, and his subsequent failure to recover from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
NTSB analysis
The student pilot was conducting a solo flight and landing on a 2,999-foot-long, 75-foot-wide, asphalt runway. During touchdown, the airplane began to bounce, and subsequently landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the nose landing gear and firewall. The airplane veered to the left and contacted a snowbank that extended parallel to the runway. The student pilot reported that he did not experience any preaccident malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. He further reported 43 hours of total flight experience, all in the same make model as the accident airplane, which included 7 hours logged as pilot-in-command.
Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA15CA153 for the full record.
Event
- Date
- Mar 8, 2015
- Type
- Accident
- Place
- Newport, Rhode Island
- Nearest airport
- Newport State (UUU)
- Highest injury
- None
- Weather
- Visual (VMC)
- Light
- Day
Cessna 172P
- N-number
- N65645
- Category
- Airplane
- Year built
- 1982
- Damage
- Substantial
- Operating rule
- Part 91 (general aviation)
- Purpose of flight
- Instructional
Other records under this N-number
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.