| Crash location | 21.307222°N, 158.070278°W |
| Nearest city | Kapolei, HI
21.313900°N, 158.021300°W 3.2 miles away |
| Tail number | N5329L |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 29 May 2003 |
| Aircraft type | Cessna 172S |
| Additional details: | None |
On May 29, 2003, about 1020 Hawaiian standard time, a Cessna 172S, N5329L, landed hard and porpoised down the runway before coming to rest on its nose at Kalaeloa Airport/John Rogers Field, Kapolei, Hawaii. The airplane was owned and operated by Flight School Hawaii, under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured; the airplane was substantially damaged. The local supervised solo instructional flight departed Kapolei about 1000. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan had not been filed.
According to the manager at Flight School Hawaii, this was the student's first supervised solo. Prior to the accident she had been doing pattern work with her certified flight instructor (CFI), which included five takeoffs and landings. No discrepancies were noted with the student's landings. On the accident landing, the first solo landing, the airplane landed hard and began to porpoise down the runway. The student was unable to initiate a recovery before the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane came to rest on its nose.
During the accident, the airplane incurred damage to the firewall and nose landing gear. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
The pilot's misjudged landing flare, and improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear and structural damage to the airplane.