- Date
- March 4, 1996, 10:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Cummings, GA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N7176GCessna 150L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 6, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960304003509A
- Case key
- 3699
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 pilot's abrupt retraction of the flaps and his failure to coordinate airspeed with flap retraction which resulted in the lack of airplane performance.
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 pilot was making full-stop landings and takeoffs. On the second landing, as he flared for touchdown, the airplane ballooned. The pilot elected to go around. He stated that the airplane did not appear to be performing well, and that the rate of climb was insufficient to avoid rising terrain at the end of the runway. He therefore did not adjust the flaps. The owner of the airplane indicated that the pilot failed to adjust the nose attitude in coordination with flap retraction. The flaps were found in the retracted position when the airplane was examined following the accident. The engine was placed on a test stand and operated.
Factual narrative
On March 4, 1996, about 1000 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N7176G, collided with a tree while executing a go-around at Mathis airstrip, Cummings, Georgia. The airplane was operated by the private pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. A flight plan was not filed for the local, personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The private pilot was seriously injured, and the aircraft was destroyed. The accident occurred about 45 minutes into the flight.
The pilot had been conducting practice full-stop takeoffs and landings. He provided the following information: On the second landing, he "ballooned" the airplane when he flared for the touchdown. A go-around was begun, but the airplane's climb performance seemed inadequate, and the flaps were not adjusted. A climb was achieved with insufficient rate to clear rising terrain at the end of the runway. The left wing struck a tree followed by the pilot's loss of consciousness.
The airplane's owner submitted a report of the accident in which he stated that the pilot climbed too steeply while the flaps were retracting. According to him, the airplane then started to "mush" and collided with trees and the ground.
Information provided by the local sheriff's deputy, who investigated the accident, indicated that the flaps were in the retracted position when the airplane was examined at the accident site following the accident.
During post accident examination of the engine, it was mounted on a test stand and operated.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7176G
- Reported as
- Cessna 150L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15074620
- Airframe hours
- 3,869
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- John S. Wheeler
- Registered owner
- Eugene A. Brown
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 18, 1995 · 63 hours before
- Departed
- 84A
- Airport
- PVT · Mathis, runway 21, 1,500 × 20 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 150 total · 100 in this make and model · 130 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PDK, 30 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.