Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 153; Flight Crew Total 1718
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors
C172RG nose wheel collapsed during the end of a landing roll out. The student inadvertently reached for the Carb-heat. Instead he grabbed the gear handle. I (CFI) saw the student reaching and tried to intercept/block the action. I was too slow and could not stop my student's hand. The gear handle moved only half-travel before my hand returned the gear lever to 'down.' The nose wheel gave way despite the squat switch. I am reporting this here because as a CFI I did my best to prevent the mistake but wasn't fast enough. My student was able to move from the throttle to the gear handle faster than I could block it.
C172RG flight instructor reported the student pilot inadvertently grabbed the gear handle instead of the carb heat and caused the nose gear to collapse on landing.