NTSB Factual Report

On April 10, 2005, about 1500 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172, N8897V, received substantial damage during a hard landing at Pike County Airport (PBX), Pikeville, Kentucky. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local instructional flight, which was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

During a telephone interview, the student pilot stated that prior to joining the flying club, which owned and operated the accident airplane, he had received about 2 hours of flight instruction from a flight instructor in a different state. He had recently received about 3 hours of dual flight instruction from a new instructor, in the accident airplane.

The pilot scheduled the use of the airplane, and on the day of the accident flight, requested that an airport employed lineman retrieve the airplane from the hangar. He then took off on a solo flight, with the intention of flying in the airport traffic pattern. During the subsequent landing, the airplane impacted the runway "hard," and bounced several times.

The lineman who retrieved the airplane for the pilot, along with an airport mechanic, witnessed the accident, and submitted written statements.

The lineman heard the student pilot state, via the radio, his intention to land on runway 27. He then looked outside, and observed the airplane about 200 feet above the runway. The airplane touched down with about 1/3 of the runway length remaining, then bounced "hard" four times.

The mechanic recounted a similar sequence of events, additionally; the mechanic inspected the runway following the accident, and found that there were skid marks on the last 200 feet of runway. He also inspected the airplane, and found that the firewall had been damaged.

According to the flight instructor, who provided the pilot his most recent training, he had not endorsed the pilot for solo flight. The pilot had not consulted him regarding his intention to perform a solo flight, and on the day of the accident flight, the instructor was out of town.

When asked why he had flown the accident airplane without a solo endorsement, the student pilot stated that based on what a previous flight instructor had told him, once he received his medical certificate, he would be authorized to fly an airplane solo.

The weather reported at Julian Carroll Airport (JKL), Jackson, Kentucky, located 36 nautical miles west, at 1453, included variable winds at 3 knots, and a broken ceiling at 7,500 feet.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's improper flare, which resulted in a hard landing.