A pilot recently had an issue involving the nose wheel bouncing several times before settling down during landing. Setup was as follows:
- Cessna 162 Skycatcher
- Simulated short field landing.
- Full Flaps, per POH
- Approach speed 50 KIAS per POH
- Headwind 6 knots
- Good condition, paved runway
- Pilot has 30 hour in this specific airplane, ~100 landings in this specific airplane and has not experienced this before.
During the touchdown, the following happened:
- Pilot flared at correct altitude.
- Plane touched down, main gear first. Main gear remained on runway.
- Nose wheel then bounced 3-5 times before settling down on the runway.
Note: Bounce was not pronouced enough to cause a tail strike
This felt to the pilot like a PIO, but it was not a Porpoise as described in this post.
Questions:
- Is this a PIO?
- Why did the nosewheel bounce?
- How can the pilot prevent this from happening in the future?
- Should this occur again, how can the pilot minimizes the nose bounces?