- Date
- January 23, 1996, 08:49 local (13:49 UTC)
- Place
- Greenville, SC
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N65465Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960123010949A
- Case key
- 3687
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 failure of the student pilot to maintain airspeed while raising the flaps during the go-around.
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.
Analysis
The student pilot was returning from a local solo flight and encountered a strong quartering tailwind on final approach. While he was landing the airplane, it ballooned. The pilot aborted the landing and performed a go-around. As he retracted the flaps for the go-around, the airplane stalled and collided with the runway.
Factual narrative
On January 23, 1996, at 0849 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N65465, collided with the ground during a landing at Greenville Downtown Airport, Greenville, South Carolina. The aircraft was operated by the student pilot under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91 and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this local, solo flight, and no flight plan was filed. The student pilot received minor injuries, and the aircraft received substantial damage. The flight originated approximately 49 minutes prior to the accident from the same airfield.
According to the pilot/operator aircraft accident report, the pilot "had difficulty lining up on the runway due to the effect of a strong quartering tailwind which existed above the surface." The aircraft ballooned during the flare, and the pilot executed a go-around. With full power and carburetor heat off, the pilot raised all 30 degrees of the flaps, and the aircraft settled. Next, the aircraft's nose was raised and it yawed to the left. The aircraft impacted the runway with the nose and the left wing first, approximately 90 degrees to the left of the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65465
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 152-81568
- Airframe hours
- 4,733
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Bob Jones University
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 8, 1995 · 13 hours before
- Departed
- GMU
- Airport
- GMU · Greenville Downtown, runway 36, 5,393 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 20
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 42 total · 42 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GMU
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N65465 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.