Flight instructor and student reported a hard landing during a training flight that resulted in a ta...

Attributes
ACN	1675732
Time
Date	201908
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	DA40 Diamond Star
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Trainee
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 108 Flight Crew Total 161 Flight Crew Type 34
Person 2
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 147 Flight Crew Total 1084 Flight Crew Type 353
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

Instructor and I were performing a short field takeoff at ZZZ. After performing a smooth short field takeoff; I was focusing on keeping a vx (best angle of climb) airspeed to clear my [hypothetical] 50 feet obstacle; which requires more of a pitch up attitude. As soon as we are leaving the ground effect my instructor pulls the power back to simulate an engine failure. My reaction was to pitch the nose forward but nothing; except adding full power back; was going to be enough to get airflow back over the wings. We fell straight down from about 30 feet. We hit really hard on the main wheels and then; we believe; tail struck because the wheels spread out far enough for the tail to hit the ground. After hitting the ground; my instructor immediately inputted full power for a go-around. We then came back in for a normal landing. After coming back around and landing; the airplane acted fine and landed very smoothly as usual (we did not believe a tailstrike had occurred; just a hard landing). My instructor had us go do a few commercial maneuvers before coming back and getting fuel. As we got fuel we checked the landing gear and the tail. Sure enough; there was a baby crack either in the paint or structure of the tail. We did not fly it again. [Maintenance] came and took a look at the airplane.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight instructor and student reported a hard landing during a training flight that resulted in a tail strike.

Narrative: Instructor and I were performing a short field takeoff at ZZZ. After performing a smooth short field takeoff; I was focusing on keeping a Vx (best angle of climb) airspeed to clear my [hypothetical] 50 feet obstacle; which requires more of a pitch up attitude. As soon as we are leaving the ground effect my Instructor pulls the power back to simulate an engine failure. My reaction was to pitch the nose forward but nothing; except adding full power back; was going to be enough to get airflow back over the wings. We fell straight down from about 30 feet. We hit really hard on the main wheels and then; we believe; tail struck because the wheels spread out far enough for the tail to hit the ground. After hitting the ground; my Instructor immediately inputted full power for a go-around. We then came back in for a normal landing. After coming back around and landing; the airplane acted fine and landed very smoothly as usual (we did not believe a tailstrike had occurred; just a hard landing). My Instructor had us go do a few commercial maneuvers before coming back and getting fuel. As we got fuel we checked the landing gear and the tail. Sure enough; there was a baby crack either in the paint or structure of the tail. We did not fly it again. [Maintenance] came and took a look at the airplane.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.