NTSB Factual Report

On December 27, 2004, approximately 1520 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 182K, N2536Q, impacted the surface of the runway during an inadvertent hard landing at Olympia Regional Airport, Olympia, Washington. The private pilot and his passenger were not injured, but the aircraft, which is owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal cross-country flight, which departed Rohnerville, California, about three hours and twenty minutes prior to the accident, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed. There was no ELT activation.

According to the pilot, during his VFR approach to Olympia Airport, he decided to keep the aircraft's speed fairly high because he had been sequenced ahead of a couple of other aircraft that were on long final approaches. He therefore crossed the runway threshold at a higher speed than he would normally use, and after he initiated the landing flare, the aircraft began to porpoise. He then attempted to push it onto the runway surface by applying forward pressure on the control yoke, but during that attempt, the aircraft descended at a rate that resulted in it hitting the runway surface hard enough to bend the engine firewall. When the aircraft hit the runway surface, the pilot added power and executed a go-around, ultimately returning for an uneventful full-stop landing. According to the pilot, there were no problems with the aircraft's engine or flight controls, but instead he had just simply over-controlled the pitch input.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's improper flare. Factors include too high of an airspeed and an inadvertent porpoise.