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Cause of Prop Strike and Training to Prevent

Asked by: 1800 views Aerodynamics, General Aviation

Hi - I am a 200 hour TT private with a new MEL rating that has recently started my IFR training in a Seneca II (multi-engine). I took about 14 years off from flying before getting back in it recently and have about 50 hours in past 6 months. I did my first solo in the Seneca and had no problems staying in the pattern and doing 10+ landings. A week later after 1.4 under the hood i dropped my CFI off and went on a x-country landing at 1 airport. I then headed to another airport and had a hard landing with a bounce or two (or more) and struck the right prop. I went around and landed safely.

 

I feel pretty comfortable flying the plane and I've done 30+ landings with no problems in the plane. I'm looking for any insights into what would have caused the strike - was i too fast, too slow, too flat, or what? From what i can remember my speeds and overall approach wasn't unusual. I do remember being somewhat "startled" when i hit the ground during my flare vs. the usual float i would have. The plane then bounced, came down again, and went back up. At that point i knew i was "porposing" and hit the throttle to go around.

Looking for any advice from experienced CFI's on what could be the possible causes. Also I've been doing research for any advanced training for landings or if there are any "landing drills" i can do to really make sure this doesn't happen again.

thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Answers



  1. Warren Webb Jr on Jul 11, 2019

    David – could you add some information about the runway locations, winds, runway lengths, and runway widths of your landings that day. Did the hard landing happen on a more narrow runway than the others, by any chance?

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  2. David R on Jul 11, 2019

    Hi – I landed runway 32 which is 4000 x 75’. I checked metar from that time and was between 260-270 at 8kts. Just after my landing it showed variable at 6. Sky was clear and 80 degrees and almost sea level altitude. That runway you come in over the ocean on most of final. My first landing attempt I was too wide on my base to final so I went around – so probably some level of cross wind from left at that time.

    My home airport is where I soloed for first time in many many years a week earlier and did about 10 landings and with all honesty most were just perfect. That runway at home is also 75 wide and 3700 long so similar sight picture.

    I’ve been trying to think how a strike can even happen on my twin. I’d have to break the struts to get enough compression for the prop to hit as there isn’t enough travel on the mains to make it happen. I guess I could have been very nose down but that would have to be pretty severe (I think) and I’m a big user of trim throughout my pattern through short final.

    I do have a feeling I out Some power in on very short final as I’ve noticed I have a tendency to do that since my plane sinks unless I’m really trimming for the glide slope. So my guess is I came in a little hot and maybe that plus lack of enough back pressure caused the bounce? To only hit the isn’t prop tells me I must have had that wing lower. Which is a bit of a mystery since the wind was from the left. Maybe the jolt of the hard bounce and perhaps I was left of centerline and instinctively put in right aileron and tipped the right wing down. Then the second bounce hit hard enough for some compression and a low wing and I hit.

    The prop tips are Bent back but I was able to do a normal go around and fly back to land. My final landing wasn’t great and I was way left of the centerline again. Could have been the nerves at that point. Thing is the hard landing wasn’t that hard – I think I’ve done worse in the 172s during training. And the prop strike itself was pretty subtle and not obvious what I did.

    Appreciate letting me think through it and welcome much more wise and experienced opinions. Most importantly I just don’t want it to happen again. And as an engineer by trade I don’t like not knowing root cause so I can take steps to prevent it again, at the very least I’m going t work wit( my CFI on intensive landing training for a while…

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Jul 12, 2019

    Ask the FBO if they have surveillance cameras. If so, and it hasn’t been too long, you can watch what happened.

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