PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Student
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 7; Flight Crew Total 39; Flight Crew Type 29
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
I felt I was in control and making standard landing. Pulled power over the numbers; settled; landed (did not feel harder than normal) and then was heading left on the runway; applied right rudder and then fishtailed right rather than center. Pulled off throttle to ensure all power was off and found throttle was loose and broken in my hand as was fishtailing down runway. On last veer towards left felt that I would flip; then was stopped facing left at full stop; no prop. Put flaps down; restarted prop and entered taxiway to proceed to CFI. Upon inspection of plane; there was evidence of right wing strike on bottom edge and prop strike.
Student was performing her first solo flight. The student performed a normal takeoff and a left traffic pattern for runway 15. The Student then came in on a normal approach for landing in calm winds. Once she was over the approach end of the runway; she then pulled the power to idle; and around 8 feet from the ground she started to flare the airplane for touchdown. After touchdown I then noticed white smoke coming from the left main tire. The plane then started to swerve left then started to swerve right. The plane ended up swerving back to the left causing the plane to roll to the right. This caused the right wing and propeller to strike the ground; stopping the airplane in the middle of the runway. She then taxied the plane off the runway back to me in the run up area for runway 15. She then shut down the engine and I performed an inspection of the aircraft. I noticed that the right wing had a large scuff mark on the wingtip and the propeller was slightly bent on both sides. When I asked her what happened; she replied by saying that she thinks she accidentally engaged the left brake after touchdown; which caused here to lose directional control of the airplane resulting in a wing and propeller strike. The student had performed her landings and takeoffs; as well as all the maneuvers required before solo flight and was found proficient. The student had landed the aircraft many times as the sole manipulator of the controls without any help from the instructor before she attempted to solo. The student also showed great directional control of the aircraft on ground and in flight. The conditions where optimal for a solo flight (clear skies and calm winds). The student and I concluded that she made a mistake on landing by accidentally adding left breaking force on touchdown.
PA-28 student pilot on her first solo accidentally engaged the left brake while touching down and lost control of the aircraft. The right wingtip and the prop were damaged.