N46549

On August 20, 2000, about 1050 Eastern Daylight Time, a Cessna 172K, N46549, was substantially damaged while landing at the Theodore Francis Green State Airport (PVD), Warwick, Rhode Island. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

According to the pilot, he was returning to land on Runway 34 at PVD after radio transmission problems. The air traffic control tower requested an "expedited" final approach, and the pilot complied with the instruction by increasing the airspeed to 115 mph. As the airplane neared the runway, the pilot progressively reduced airspeed to 65 mph, extended the flaps to 30 degrees, and compensated for a "minor" crosswind. Over the runway, with the throttle at idle, the pilot flared the airplane to land and the main landing gear touched down on the runway. The pilot then suddenly encountered significant wind gusts and the airplane became airborne. The airplane touched down a second time on the nose wheel and "spontaneously began a rapid pitch oscillation." Through the use of ailerons and brakes, the pilot stopped the airplane on the runway and taxied to the ramp. While taxiing on the ramp, the nose wheel became uncontrollable and the brakes seized.

The pilot additionally stated that several squawks had been written for the airplane that referred to a nose wheel shimmy. After maintenance on August 12, the pilot had flown the airplane three times, noting "performance improvement immediately."

Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed two flat tires, two bent propeller blades, a damaged nose gear assembly, and a bent firewall. The inspector also did not find any pre-impact failures of the nose gear assembly.

The pilot reported a total flight experience of 63 hours, with 9 hours in make and model.

The reported PVD winds at 1051 were from 310 degrees at 12 knots.