20020126001169A

(.19) On January 26, 2002, about 0915 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 172M, N5264R, veered off the runway and nosed over during landing at the Payson Airport, Payson, Arizona. The airplane, operated by AZ cloud busters flying club and rented by the pilot under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91, sustained substantial damage. The private pilot and two passengers were not injured; a third passenger sustained serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight that departed the stellar airpark airport, chandler, Arizona, about 0845 the morning of the accident. An automated weather observation system (AWOS) at the airport reported weather at the time of the accident as winds variable from 060 degrees to 140 degrees at 5-6 knots, gusting to 7 knots. The safety board investigator-in-charge (iic) interviewed the pilot. The pilot stated that he made a 45-degree entry for runway 24. The weather was clear and the winds were calm. On final he had 30 degrees of flaps selected and flared over the runway at 60 knots for touchdown. About 5-10 feet above ground level (AGL) the airplane encountered a gust of wind from the south. The pilot lowered the nose to a level flight position, advanced the throttle, pushed in the carburetor heat, and raised the flaps in an attempt to abort the landing. He noted that the airspeed increased slightly and then the airplane "hit the ground." The pilot stated that the airplane veered off the runway and nosed over to inverted after the nose landing gear sheared off and the strut dug into the ground. (-23) as aircraft was landing with a slight quartering tail wind aircraft was hit by a strong tailwind gust and aircraft was blown off of runway. In an attempt to recover and execute a go around, the pilot applied full power and completely raised the flaps. Aircraft stalled out, impacted the ground nose first and flipped over onto its back.