WPR15CA004 · Cessna 172S

The pilot stated that he was on an extended final for landing. As he got closer to the runway, he noted that he was right of centerline, and made corrections to return to the runway centerline for landing. The pilot indicated that he was still making corrections as he initiated the flare to land. The flare was too high, and as a result, the airplane developed a greater than desired sink rate, which he corrected by adding power. The pilot stated that the landing was firmer than normal, and the airplane bounced before it settled back to the runway. The pilot looked inside the cockpit to retract the flaps and reduce the power to idle. When he looked back outside, the airplane was pointed off the runway. The pilot added right rudder to correct back to the runway. He did not want to add too much rudder and lose airplane control, and when he went to apply the brakes, he noted that his feet were too far down the rudder pedals, so there was no braking action. The airplane departed the runway surface, and traveled onto the grass, toward a ditch. As the airplane traversed through the ditch, the nose landing gear collapsed, the propeller struck the ground, and then the airplane came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to right wing, rudder, and vertical stabilizer.

The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. In the Recommendation (how could this accident/incident have been prevented) section of the accident report, the pilot reported that the flight school has changed their policy, and no longer allows solo students to fly to the accident airport. He further reported that if he had ensured positive aircraft control prior to retracting the flaps, or taking his attention away from the landing, the airplane would not have yawed to the side of the runway.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset