AAIB investigation to Reims Cessna FRA150L Aerobat, G-PHOR
Nose gear collapse after bounced landing, Netherthorpe Airfield, Nottinghamshire, 11 August 2015.
Summary:
Following a circuit training flight with his instructor at Netherthorpe Airfield, the student pilot was cleared for his first solo circuit. The weather forecast obtained from Doncaster Sheffield Airport, some 11 nm distant, was for a wind from 280° at 10 kt. The instructor watched the final approach of the aircraft to grass Runway 24 and reported that the approach “looked good and stable”. However, on landing the aircraft bounced twice and, following the second bounce, the aircraft was seen to pitch down collapsing the nose landing gear onto the runway surface. The uninjured pilot switched off the fuel and master switch before vacating the aircraft through the left door. The pilot attributed the pitch down to leaning forwards onto the control yoke during the second bounce. The instructor later commented that he had expected the student pilot to have executed a go-around after the first bounce.
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