On August 7, 1996, at 1100 central daylight time (cdt), a Piper PA-28-140, N44245, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Jasper County Airport, Rensselaer, Indiana. The student pilot was on a solo cross country flight from Kokomo, Indiana, and was not injured in the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions, and no flight plan had been flied. The pilot reported on NTSB Form 6120.1/2 that before landing, she reduced the engine power, and started the landing flare. The pilot reported that the landing flare was initiated too early, and "the plane hit and bounced onto the runway really hard." The pilot reported that after the first bounce she applied power to recover from the bounced landing; however, the airplane bounced two more times. The airplane went off the runway and stopped in the grass. No mechanical malfunctions with the airplane or engine were reported by the pilot. The airplane's wing skins were buckled behind the main landing gear struts. The engine mount, nose gear strut and firewall were bent.