NTSB Factual Report

On August 9, 2002, at 1015 central daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N73461, registered to Skyhawk Services Inc., operated by MC Aviation as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, landed hard on runway 05 at the Enterprise Municipal Airport, Enterprise, Alabama. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The private pilot reported no injuries. The flight originated from Mobile, Alabama, at 0825.

The pilot stated he was landing to runway 05. He turned on final and the Visual Approach Slope Indicator ( VASI) indicated that the airplane was high on the glide slope. He slowed the airplane to 65 knots to reacquire the VASI. The flaps were lowered to 30-degrees about 300 feet from the landing threshold, and were lowered to the full down position about 100 feet from the threshold. The airspeed was 60 knots and he was 30 feet high over the threshold with a high sink rate. He started to round out but his flare was late. The airplane bounced about 6 feet in the air, pitched up, and to the left. He added power, the airplane collided with the runway hard, bounced, and collided with the runway in a nose-down attitude on the nose gear and left main landing gear. The airplane bounced again and started to rollout on the runway. He completed the after landing checklist, taxied to the ramp, and shut the engine down. Upon exiting the airplane, he noticed that both propeller blades tips were curled.

The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane. Examination of the airplane revealed that the firewall was buckled.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's delayed flare on landing that resulted in a hard landing.