N5552E

On October 20, 2001, approximately 2145 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N5552E, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at Provo Municipal Airport (PVU), Provo, Utah. The pilot and his passengers were not injured. Advantage Aviation of Provo, Utah, was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal, night, local flight that originated approximately 1.4 hours before the accident. The pilot had not filed a flight plan.

A witness said that he saw the airplane land with a loud "crunching sound." He said the airplane oscillated several times before rolling out to the end of the runway 31. The pilot said that the airplane landed with what seemed a normal bounce, but bounced a second time which seemed harder. He said that after tying the airplane down, he looked for damage, but could not see any due to the dark night light conditions. Postaccident examination revealed that the firewall was bent, stringers in the fuselage underside were bent, the control yoke would not move, and attachment bolts were broken in the nose gear.

The pilot's flight logbook indicated that he had approximately 63 hours of total flight experience. He had flown approximately 13 hours during the last 44 months, and he had a flight review endorsement dated June 5, 2001. The pilot had not flown in the previous 4 and 1/2 months prior to the accident flight.