- Date
- November 16, 2014, 13:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- New Buffalo, MN
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6985GCessna 150L
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 22, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Adminiostration
- FAA report
- 20141116020819A
- Case key
- 90481
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 and the flight instructor's delayed remedial action during landing. Contributing was the snow on the runway surface.
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 airplane veered off the runway during landing while on an instructional flight with a student pilot and a flight instructor. During the landing, the airplane's left main landing gear wheel contacted snow on the runway, which resulted in the airplane veering into a snowbank along the runway edge and impacting the ground with the right wing. The airplane sustained substantial damage when the right wing contacted the ground. The flight instructor reported that there was no mechanical malfunction/failure with the airplane that would have precluded normal airplane operation.
Factual narrative
The airplane veered off the runway during landing while on an instructional flight with a student pilot and a flight instructor. During the landing, the airplane's left main landing gear wheel contacted snow on the runway, which resulted in the airplane veering into a snowbank along the runway edge and impacting the ground with the right wing. The airplane sustained substantial damage when the right wing contacted the ground. The flight instructor reported that there was no mechanical malfunction/failure with the airplane that would have precluded normal airplane operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6985G
- Reported as
- Cessna 150L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15072485
- Airframe hours
- 4,115.93
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Student Pilot
- Registered owner
- Student Pilot
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 5, 2013
- Departed
- FCM · Eden Prairie, MN
- Destination
- FCE · Buffalo, MN
- Airport
- CFE · Buffalo Municipal, runway 18, 3,200 × 75 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 14 total · 13 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 7, 2014
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 634 total · 6 in this make and model · 603 as pilot in command · 206 in the last 90 days · 96 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.87 inHg
- Observed at
- CFE
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 8, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 834 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.