20191219020059A

On December 18, 2019, at approximately 19:15 p.m. eastern daylight time (0015 zulu), Cessna 172F, N5406R collided with trees at the approach end of runway 01 at the Cincinnati west Harrison airport (I67), Harrison, Ohio. The aircraft was registered to mmm enterprises, LLC and was operating under the provisions of 14 code of federal regulations part 91 as a personal training flight. The private pilot and certified flight instructor (CFI) sustained no injuries and the aircraft received subtansial damage from the tree collision. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The weather at the time of the accident was wind 300 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, and clear sky, temperature minus 4 degrees celcius, dew point minus 11 degrees celcius. The flight departed I67 in visual flight rules (VFR) enroute to the Cincinnati municipal airport, lunken (luk) Cincinnati, Ohio to practice instrument approaches and returned to I67. The CFI was the pilot in command at the time of the accident.

The CFI stated he and the pilot flying (pf) were performing the Cincinnati west VOR 19 approach in VFR conditions. Upon the missed approach point (map), they executed published map procedure. During the climbout at 1400 feet, the CFI simulated a power failure about 1.3 statute miles from the departure end of runway 19 while making a left turn on the cross wind for runway 19 . The pf slowed the aircraft to the best glide speed of 90 knots while continuing the left turn to land on runway 01 and completed the engine failure checklist items including pulling on the carburator heat about thirty seconds later. (Note: the 1965 Cessna 172F POH does not have an emergency procedure or a checklist for an inflight engine failure.) Approaching runway 01, the aircraft went below the VASI. When the throttle was pushed in, the engine failed. The aircraft's left wing hit trees about ten feet above the ground at approximately 55-60 mph with partial flaps. The bottom tail of the aircraft then hit the top wire of a 3 foot fence. The PIC estimated the aircraft yawed 30-40 degrees to the left of the runway centerline. The aircraft touchdowned about 50 feet from the end of the runway on west road, aligned 10 degrees left of the runway heading and five to ten feet left of the runway centerline. The aircraft became airborne again and skipped onto the end of runway 01 where it came to rest.

The PIC was able to re-start the engine on the runway and taxi back to the hangar. The extent of damage caused by the collision with the trees was two large dents in the leading edge of the left wing, tail scrape from the fence, and damaged left brake rotor from the hard landing.

The area of trees involve in collision are located about 65 feet from the approach end of runway 01. The height of the trees is 10 to 15 feet high. Several trees trunks and branches with diameters ranging from 2-4 inches of diameter showed signs of being damaged or broken. A top section of the 3 foot high livestock fence running parallel between the two lane highway and trees was severed with red paint marks matching the unerneath color of the aircraft. Two sets of tire skid marks from the aircraft mains, approximately 4 feet in length, were discovered on the road that is located between the runway and fence. On the approach end of runway 01 was a 2-3 foot gouge and tire skid mark. These marks are consistant with the left inner main wheels scuff marks and left main brake rotor scrapping. The aircraft had approximately 20 gallons of fuel on board. No contaminates were noted in the fuel. All engine control linkage was checked and appeared to function normally(carb heat and throttle).

Cause of accident is undetermined at this time. (Reviewed by flm bam on 01/27/20. Note the cvg FSDO was notified by eon a week late due to a mistake in the investigating FSDO)(05/28/2020 ddh-reviewed the 8020-23)