- Date
- December 31, 2024, 13:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N3552ECessna 172N
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA - FSDO
- FAA report
- 20241231019509A
- Case key
- 199498
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The student pilot’s failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during touch-and-go operations on an ice-covered runway during her first solo flight.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot reported that, after performing her first solo landing while conducting touch-and-go landings on an ice-covered runway, she inadvertently allowed the airplane to veer to the left of runway centerline while reconfiguring the airplane for takeoff. The student pilot reported overcorrecting with right rudder and while attempting to correct the overcorrection by applying left rudder, she inadvertently applied the left brake, resulting in a loss of directional control. The airplane exited the runway surface and nosed over which resulted in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, right aileron, right lift strut, and right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3552E
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17271584
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 13,676.2
- Engine
- Avco Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Angel Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 20, 2024 · 69.3 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- MRI · Merrill Field, runway 25, 4,000 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 27 total · 27 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 27 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 16 °F, dew point 10 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- PAMR
- METAR
- PAMR 312153Z 00000KT 10SM CLR M09/M12 A3016 RMK AO2 SLP215 T10891122
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 12, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.