N11951

On October 11, 1998, about 1100 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150L, N11951, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Washington Executive-Hyde Airport, Clinton, Maryland. The certificated student pilot was uninjured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from Hyde Airport, about 1000.

According to the flight instructor, who was positioned near the end of the runway with a hand held radio, the student pilot was on his second supervised solo flight. He recalled that the student pilot had completed eight landings prior to the accident.

The student pilot reported that everything was the same as his previous landings, except over the numbers (on the runway), the airplane "experienced an updraft." He stated that the airplane ballooned up, and when it came down, it bounced back into the air. He pushed "down nose, to correct for lifting" and could not flare soon enough to recover. The nose wheel struck the runway, collapsing the nose gear and the airplane slid into the grass infield coming to rest in an upright position.

A Federal Aviation Administration Inspector examined the wreckage on October 12, 1998. The Inspector reported that in addition to the nose gear collapsing, the engine casing was punctured, and both wings incurred spar damage. No pre-impact mechanical malfunctions were found with the airplane.