N5294W

On November 21, 2004, about 1510 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172R, N5294W, was substantially damaged while landing at the Eastern WV Regional Airport, Martinsburg, West Virginia. The certificated private pilot and a passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed the Leesburg Executive Airport, Leesburg, Virginia. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The airplane was on approach to runway 26, a 7,000-foot-long, 150-foot-wide, asphalt runway.

According to the pilot, the airplane was configured with full flaps, a power setting of 1,200 rpm, and was at an airspeed "just below 70 knots," when he realized that the propeller was wind-milling. He advanced the throttle; however, the engine did not respond. The airplane was about 15 feet above, and 300 to 400 feet down the runway, when the pilot began a landing flare. The airplane touched down on the main landing gear, bounced, and then touched down on the main and nose landing gear. The nose gear collapsed, and the airplane slid off the right side of the runway, onto a grass area.

The nose gear was pushed through the engine firewall, and the propeller contacted the ground.

Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector did not reveal any mechanical malfunctions. In addition, a subsequent teardown, and test run of the engine did not reveal any discrepancies.

The airplane had been operated for about 7 hours since it's most recent annual inspection, which was performed on November 10, 2004.

The pilot obtained his private pilot license on October 8, 2004. He reported 105 hours of total flight experience, which included about 92 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane.