Diamond DA 20 C1 N497PA

Summary

On 9 August 2014 at about 18:00 local time, a Diamond DA 20 C1 registered N497PA, operated by Noble Airventures LLC, was involved in an accident near Stow, Massachusetts, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 August 2014 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Stow, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Minute Man Air Field (6B6)

Coordinates

42.4606, -71.5178

Aircraft

Diamond DA 20 C1

Registration

N497PA

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

1

Operator

Noble Airventures LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Stow → Stow

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA14CA400

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor/pilot's failure to recover from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing and the subsequent collapse of the nose landing gear. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor's lack of total experience in the make and model of the accident airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor/pilot was conducting an introductory flight for the passenger and was landing on a 2,770-foot-long, asphalt runway. Upon landing, the airplane began to bounce. After the third touchdown, the nose gear collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage to the underside of the fuselage. The airplane's second touchdown was described as "rough" by the pilot, and "much more forceful than the initial touchdown" by the passenger. The pilot further stated that he considered aborting the landing after the first bounce, but elected to continue the landing attempt. Postaccident examination of the airplane, which included a metallurgical examination of nose landing gear assembly, did not reveal any preaccident malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported about 440 hours of total flight experience, which included about 8 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane, of which, 1.2 hours were accumulated during the previous 90 days.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.