“If you can walk away from a landing, it is a good landing. If you can use the airplane again, it is a great landing!” – Old Aviation Saying
No one lands an airplane perfectly every time. Even professional airline pilots may suffer a hard landing on occasion. Being professionals, if that happens, they report it, explain it, and have any damage repaired.
Flying under Part 91, we don’t have the identical set of obligations, but perhaps we should.
A pilot friend related a story to me about a landing he witnessed a few years ago. He was holding short of the active runway, preparing for takeoff. A solo student pilot, operating a rental Cessna 172 Skyhawk, was on final. My friend watched the Skyhawk flash over the runway numbers, high and fast.
The Skyhawk ate up a little more than half the length of the runway before the student tumbled to the developing situation. This is a perfect scenario for a go-around. Unfortunately, student pilots are seldom perfect. Instead, the yoke was abruptly pushed forward, the nose gear predictably hit hard, the prop tips churned a little cement dust, and the 172 bounced back into the air, courtesy of its stout spring steel main gear.
Now sitting about 10 feet above the runway and seemingly out of airspeed, momentum, and ideas, the student again shoved the yoke hard forward. The result was the same, except possibly a slightly denser cloud of dust from the prop tips scraping cement a second time.
Finally, and given the long runway, the Skyhawk lurched left, then right, narrowly avoiding snowbanks, then settled. My friend watched the student pilot turn off the runway, taxi to the FBO tie-down area, and shut down. Amazingly, from a distance the tires appeared to still hold air, but the nosewheel strut had entirely collapsed. He watched the student pilot, as personal things were gathered, exit the airplane, tach board in hand. The student then walked briskly toward the FBO, never glancing back.
Once my friend’s short flight was completed, he walked over to the Skyhawk to have a look at it. He then headed into the FBO and asked for a flight instructor. A CFI promptly appeared, and my friend mentioned the N-number of the Skyhawk and briefly described the landing he had witnessed earlier. He asked if the student pilot had said anything about the landing or made any comments on the tach board. The CFI responded, “No, the student just dropped off the keys and tach board and left.” “Let’s go have a look,” my friend suggested. They walked out the door together.
As they approached the airplane, the CFI appeared startled, his eyes widening. The Skyhawk was listing, left wing down, a main gear tire almost deflated, the nose wheel tire flat. The prop tips were scraped and slightly curled. Hydraulic fluid dripped from the nosewheel strut onto the flaccid tire, then into a small spot forming on the ramp. There were obvious wrinkles in the skin in line with the firewall on both sides of the fuselage. A few popped rivets. More ripples at both main gear and strut attach points and forward of the tail. It was ugly.
Aside from the clear ethical implications – no pilot should ever disregard known or suspected aircraft defects and not tell anyone – as a practical matter, pilots need to be honest with themselves. You may want to just walk away quickly from a bad landing and forget it, but you need to identify and correct what went wrong with your technique or decision-making and, more importantly, you should always take a close and careful look at your airplane post-flight and assess any damage – then do something about it.
Most pilots are not mechanics, but we have enough sense, aircraft knowledge, and experience to make an initial evaluation of the results of a hard landing.
The evaluation should start with an overall look at the airplane from a distance. Is it sitting level? Are the wings symmetrical? Is fuel, oil, or hydraulic fluid leaking? Look at the nose gear and main gear from a distance. Is everything straight and in line? Check tires for inflation and overall appearance. Any nicks, cuts, or bulges in the tread? Pay particular attention to the tire valve stems. A severe jolt when suddenly impacting pavement may dislodge the inner tube, moving the stem from its upright position poking through the rim. Is the stem binding or at an angle? If not detected now, this will cause premature wear and failure. Try pulling the airplane forward and backward a few feet. Does it roll smoothly? Does it rock or want to veer to one side?
For retractable gear aircraft, if anomalies with the gear are detected, and with the assistance of your mechanic, you will need to place the airplane on jacks and perform a gear retraction test. Hopefully, no issues are encountered.
Once satisfied with the overall look of the aircraft, tires, and gear alignment and operation, approach the inspection as you would a pre-flight. Start at the nose, looking closely at the spinner and propeller. Look for signs of a prop strike, noting dings, scrapes, or other damage to the blades or curling to the tips. If you suspect a prop strike, ask your mechanic to further evaluate the damage. A teardown of the engine may likely be required.
Next, look at the spacing between the spinner bulkhead plate and the cowling. It should be even all the way around. Sometimes, with older aircraft and sagging engine mounts, the space may increase slightly toward the top and decrease slightly toward the bottom of the plate. But if the space is noticeably uneven or if signs of rubbing between the plate and cowl are present, you have a problem.
Look closely at the front windshield. Cracks in the plexiglass or displaced windshield trim or popped rivets may be evident. Cracks most often appear in areas where there are sharp bends in the plexiglass or begin to form close to the frame edges.
While standing in front of the cowl, look down each side along the length of the fuselage. Try to spot ripples or wrinkling in the sheet metal skins. You may have to change your perspective slightly, as some damage shows better or worse in differing light and shadows. Popped rivets or mis-aligned sheet metal skins may also be present.
On high-wing airplanes, such as a Cessna Skyhawk, pay attention to any deformities in the lift strut attachment points. Badly broken or cracked strut or main gear fairings may indicate underlying damage. Take a close look at the underside of each wing. Then, grab a ladder and inspect the top of each wing as well, looking for any sign of wrinkled panels.
On low-wing aircraft, such as a Piper Cherokee, pay careful attention to the areas on the wings above and below the main gear attachment points. Again, if there are wheel fairings in place and they are badly cracked or broken, it could be a sign of damage to the gear. Further inquiry is necessary. Examine the area on top of each wing around the gear strut filler area (located on Piper aircraft under a small snap-in-place metal disk) on each wing for any rippling of the wing skins or popped rivets.
Fuel tanks may be compromised. Mooneys and some other aircraft have “wet” wings, i.e., no rubber bladder or tank, to hold fuel. A hard landing may compromise the integrity of the metal seams or fittings in the wing or a wing tank and allow leaks. If you see fuel seepage under a wing after a hard landing, better to track it down now and have it repaired immediately.
Check the security and tightness of anything attached to the cowl or wings, such as landing, nav and strobe lights, and pitot tubes. Check flight control continuity and complete range of motion by hand-moving the ailerons, elevator or stabilator, and rudder, noting any noises, binding, jerking, or looseness.
Also, check the same control surfaces from inside the aircraft by exercising full range of motion of the control wheel and rudder pedals. While you are in the cockpit, deploy the full range of the flaps to determine if there are any issues. Check your ELT and reset it, if necessary.
Slide the front seats back and forth and see if the stops or pins in the seat rails are in place and secure. Take a flashlight and shine it under the instrument panel on both sides, looking for anything that could have shaken loose, disconnected, or wires hanging down. Test the security of the avionics stack by tugging and pressing on the faceplates to see if there is any movement within the trays. A hex wrench may be all that is necessary to tighten them up. You will also want to flip the battery switch and the avionics master switch on and test your avionics for connections and performance. If the switches fail to energize, check the battery connections. Also, check the circuit breaker panel for tripped circuit breakers.
If the aircraft’s battery is mounted in the aft fuselage, be sure to check the connections and the wing skins directly below the battery for wrinkles or other signs of stress. If the battery is mounted forward of the firewall, check the connections, mounting structure, and firewall for damage or buckling. Batteries are heavy and, although the battery box and surrounding structure are designed to absorb up to plus 3.5 Gs, a hard landing may subject the structure to greater than design load.
Next, spend some time examining the empennage, i.e., the tail assembly. In the event of a hard landing, there is tremendous downward force exerted on the tail. As the tail bends downward, the sheet metal skins on the top of the fuselage are strained and stretched, while simultaneously compressing the sheet metal on the bottom of the fuselage, often causing wrinkling, buckling, or popped rivets in one or both locations. Aluminum skin can stretch, but it does not easily compress. Even if you see no damage on top of the fuselage, make sure to check the underside. Check for chipped paint around the rivets attaching any bulkheads, formers, and stringers to the aft fuselage skin.
Also check the fit of the tail cone to see if it is undamaged and still solidly in place. With the tail cone removed, inspect the rudder and elevator or stabilator attach points for damage.
It will be necessary to have a closer look at the engine compartment. You will be looking for any bent or mis-aligned parts, cracked tubes, loose fasteners/fittings, or other damage to the engine mounts, hoses, or wiring. If you slam into the runway hard enough to bend or break the engine mounts, serious damage elsewhere to the aircraft is almost a certainty. The Piper Cherokee Six, the Piper Lance and Saratoga, and the Cessna 182 Skylane, because of nose-heaviness, are more susceptible to engine mount issues in a hard landing.
Careful attention should be given to the nosewheel structure. Look at the welded joints, castings, and nose gear attach points. Does the nose strut operate correctly, extend when lifted, and compress when subjected to load? Any fluid leaks? Inspect the nose gear torque links for broken or bent parts. Are the muffler, shroud, and exhaust stacks secure?
Check the firewall within the engine compartment, looking for wrinkles and buckling. If the battery is mounted on the firewall, it is possible that the area just below the firewall will be damaged. Also, check the security of other parts attached to the firewall. Place your fingers on the firewall and push in different places. Is there any “oil canning” of the wall?
Spend the time needed with the engine compartment and nose wheel, since these areas are subjected to greater force as they most often bang into the runway first in a hard landing.
If actual or suspected damage is found after your initial walk-around and look inside the cowling, it is time to get your mechanic involved. It will be necessary for the mechanic, with a trained eye, to do a more detailed and extensive inspection. Cowlings, fairings, and access panels will need to be removed for a more thorough and professional going-over.
Contact your insurance broker or your insurance provider directly and notify them of the date of the incident, any potential damage you are aware of, and to coordinate making a claim. You will also want to take precautions to prevent any further damage to the aircraft by moving it indoors or by adequately covering and securing it on the ramp.
Keep in mind that “accidents” and “serious incidents” need to be reported to the NTSB per 49 CFR 830.2 and 830.5, but non-serious incidents need not be reported. For example, my understanding is that a gear-up landing is typically not reportable unless there is personal injury, third-party property damage, or “substantial damage” to the aircraft involved, i.e., “damage or failure which adversely affects the structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics of the aircraft, and which would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component.” Neither accidents nor serious incidents are reported to the FAA unless the FAA requests information as part of an investigation. Further review of these sometimes tricky-to-understand requirements is beyond the scope of this article.
A small modicum of comfort exists in the fact that legacy Cessnas, Pipers, and Beechcraft were designed and built to take a certain level of continuous beatings by students and by less-than-average, landing-challenged pilots. However, airplanes can and do break if a landing really does go seriously off the rails.
If you are involved in a hard landing, maintain control of the aircraft, draw a deep breath, gather your wits about you, and carry on. As the aircraft slows, be aware of how it handles and how it steers on the ground. If you have a main gear tire going flat as you taxi, the aircraft will slow and pull to that side. A nose gear tire losing air will noticeably impede or stop forward progress. You may have to discontinue your attempt to taxi. Seek assistance. Once off the runway, anticipate spending time going over the aircraft completely. While so engaged in your inspection, pay no attention to any laughter or derisive comments hurled your way by your so-called pilot buddies who may have watched the unfortunate event (and whose landings are probably no better or worse than yours).
If you rent an aircraft from an FBO or share your aircraft with partners or flying club members, always perform a thorough pre-flight. As much as we assume and hope that our fellow pilots are honest, observant, and ethical, the cold truth is that we really don’t know the quality of a rental or shared aircraft’s last landing unless we personally witnessed it. It may have been lighter and softer than an angel’s touch – or maybe not. © Copyright Dean Zakos 2025. All Rights Reserved!
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this column is the expressed opinion of the author only, and readers are advised to seek the advice of their personal flight instructor, aircraft technician and others, and refer to the Federal Aviation Regulations, FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, and instructional materials before attempting any procedures discussed herein.
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