N97351

On July 16, 2006, at 1900 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182Q, N97351, registered to and operated by a private owner as a 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, made a hard landing at Barwick Lafayette Airport, Lafayette, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage. The student pilot reported no injuries. The flight departed the Richard B Russell Airport, Rome, Georgia, on July 16, 2006, at 1600.

The student pilot stated he was on his first cross-country solo, and became disorientated enroute to the Barwick Lafayette Airport (9A5). The student pilot landed at the Richard B Russell Airport, Rome, Georgia, to go over his flight plan and then continue to 9A5. During the continuation of his flight he became disorientated again, contacted air traffic control, and was radar vectored to 9A5. The student pilot stated that during the landing on runway 2 he flared the airplane high, and landed hard on the runway. The airplane veered off of the left side of the runway, down an embankment, and collided with a ditch.