On October 23, 2004, about 1530 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-140, N586FL, was substantially damaged while landing at the Jake Arner Memorial Airport, Lehighton, Pennsylvania. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The airplane was on approach to runway 8, a 3,000-foot-long, 60-foot-wide, asphalt, runway. The student pilot reported that he landed "hard," and the airplane began to porpoise. The airplane came to a stop on the runway; however, the nose gear, propeller, and engine firewall were damaged. The student pilot stated that he did not experience any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. He reported 39.6 hours of total flight experience, which included 1.7 hours of solo flight experience.