- Date
- January 7, 2002, 14:42 local (19:42 UTC)
- Place
- Clewiston, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N25441Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 29, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Fort Lauderdale FSDO
- FAA report
- 20020107038479A
- Case key
- 53988
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The student pilot's inadequate compensation for wind, and failure to maintain directional control. A contributing factor was a crosswind.
Analysis
The pilot made a cross wind landing to a closed airport. The pilot did not maintain or apply a cross wind correction with ailerons and experienced an in-flight loss of directional control. The airplane went to the left of the runway and the landing gear collided with fence posts and nosed down on the ground.
Factual narrative
On January 7, 2002, about 1442 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N25441, registered to Slow flight Inc., operated by Palm Beach Flight Training School under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 as an instructional flight collided with the ground while attempting a landing at a closed airport in Clewiston, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage; the student pilot was not injured. The flight originated from Lantana, Florida, at about 1345.
The student pilot stated she was on a solo cross country flight to Air Glades Airport located in Clewiston, Florida. She encountered some bad weather consisting of turbulence and thought she was landing at Air Glades Airport, but in fact made an approach to a closed airport. While on landing to runway 32, she encountered a crosswind condition but did not apply a crosswind correction. She experienced an in-flight loss of directional control resulting in the airplane going to the left of the runway and colliding with the ground in a nose down attitude. When asked how much experience she had in crosswind landings, she stated she had no experience and had not been trained. When asked if she experienced any type of mechanical failure or malfunction she stated no.
Clewiston Police Department responded to the closed Clewiston Airport which is marked with yellow X's on the runway. A coast Guard helicopter landed and the crew chief went over and shut down the transponder and fuel line. The pilot was transported to a local hospital.
Examination of the crash scene by the FAA revealed the airplane went off the left side of the runway striking several fence posts and came to rest on the ground on its nose.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N25441
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15280661
- Airframe hours
- 3,169
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Palm Beach Flight Training School
- Registered owner
- Slowflight Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 14, 2001 · 42 hours before
- Departed
- LNA · Lantana, FL
- Destination
- 2IS · Clewiston, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 21S · Airglades, runway 32
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
- Pilot
- Age
- 25
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 37 total · 30 in this make and model · 17 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days · 17 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 16 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,400 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- FMY, 60 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 6, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 658 KB 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.