Every flyer has one occasionally — a landing that’s harder than intended, whether from misjudged flare, a gust, or just an off day. What matters is what you do immediately after.
Don’t fly again without checking, even if it “felt fine.” Carbon fibre’s failure mode (see Day 2) means damage isn’t always visually obvious or immediately apparent from how the landing felt — a leg can retain enough residual strength to survive taxiing back and look fine sitting on the bench, while carrying damage that fails on the next hard landing rather than this one.
Check both legs, not just the one that looked like it took the impact. Asymmetric hard landings still transmit load through both legs via the airframe, and it’s easy to focus attention on the obviously-affected side while missing developing damage on the other.
Look specifically at the mounting area first — this is the highest-stress point on most gear designs and the most common location for hairline cracking to first appear, before it’s visible anywhere else on the leg.
Do a hand-flex test comparing both legs, similar to the fitting check in Day 5 — any noticeable difference in how the two legs flex under equal hand pressure is worth taking seriously, even without visible cracking.
When in doubt, don’t fly it. Landing gear is one of the cheaper components to replace relative to the cost of what happens if it fails on a subsequent landing — a cracked leg that lets go on touchdown risks the propeller, cowl, and potentially the whole airframe, well beyond the cost of the gear itself.
A hard landing doesn’t automatically mean replacement — plenty of hard landings are shrugged off without issue by gear that’s correctly sized and in good condition. It just means the checks above are worth five minutes before your next flight, rather than assuming everything’s fine because it looked fine going onto the ground.
For a real-world example, have a look at our 120 size profile carbon undercarriage (60-70″ models).