20050509011819A

(-23) On may 9, 2005, about 21:35 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 170, N8305A sustained substantial damage when the student pilot and certified flight instructor lost directional control, veered off the runway into ditch that runs along side the runway at the Homer Airport, in Homer, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rule (VFR) local area flight instructional flight. The pilot in command was a certified flight instructor who was giving flight instruction to the owner who is a student pilot. The student and the flight instructor were not injured. During a telephone conversation with the FAA inspector in charge (iic) on may 17, 2005 the pilot in command reported that he was providing flight instruction to the owner of the aircraft. During the lesson of take offs and landings the student pilot lost directional control. The pilot in command applied full power to initiate a go around but the aircraft collided with a ditch that paralleled the left side of the runway. The pilot in command felt that the accident might not have occurred if the ditch was not present. He also mentioned that the student pilot had been doing very well prior to the accident, although the student had used multiple instructors and had logged a substantial amount of time in the aircraft with the other instructors. The pilot in command commented that neither he nor any of the previous instructors had signed off the owner/student to solo.