- Date
- January 14, 2023, 11:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Las Animas, CO
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N9393HCessna 182R
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230114001049A
- Case key
- 106585
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 loss of control during approach for landing and the flight instructor’s inadequate supervision of the approach and delay in ensuring a go-around was performed at the onset of a stall warning.
Findings · 5
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 was on a visual approach for landing during an instructional flight when the stall warning sounded as it approached the runway threshold. The flight instructor told the student pilot to add engine power to avoid a hard landing. She added engine power, the airplane veered left, and then bounced on the runway while the stall warning continued to sound. The flight instructor then told her to add full engine power. She added full engine power and the airplane continued to veer left and did not climb. The airplane settled into a field adjacent to the runway and sustained substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. The application of engine power at a low airspeed would have necessitated greater control input to counter torque effects from the added power. The stall warning annunciation during the approach to landing was consistent with an unstabilized approach, during which an immediate go-around should have been instructed to the student pilot or performed by the flight instructor. The flight instructor stated that the airplane should have attained a climb rate and attributed the lack of climb rate to an engine problem. The student pilot, however, attributed the lack of airplane climb rate to its low airspeed and high angle of attack during the go-around. A postaccident engine examination and engine run revealed no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
On January 14, 2023, at 1115 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182R, N9393H, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Las Animas, Colorado. The flight instructor, student pilot, and a passenger were uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The airplane was on a turn to the final approach leg for a visual approach and landing at the destination airport, when the flight instructor told the student pilot to watch out for several powerlines left of the airplane. He thought that it startled the student pilot because she began to increase airplane pitch. He then told her that she pitched up too high and to reduce pitch and add some engine power. As the airplane approached the runway threshold, the stall warning horn began to sound and, as the airplane crossed over the runway numbers, he told her to add more engine power to avoid a hard landing. She added engine power, the airplane veered left, and then bounced on the runway while the stall warning continued to sound. He then told her to add full engine power. She added full engine power and the airplane continued to veer left and did not climb. The airplane was airborne when it hit a 4-foot-high fence and then settled into a field adjacent to the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage that included damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. The flight instructor stated that the airplane should have attained a climb rate and attributed the lack of climb rate to an engine problem. The student pilot, however, attributed the lack of airplane climb rate to its low airspeed and high angle of attack during the go-around. A postaccident engine examination and engine run revealed no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9393H
- Reported as
- Cessna 182R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18267942
- Built
- 1981
- Airframe hours
- 2,139
- Engine
- Continental O-470-U, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- C&C Specialty Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 23, 2022
- Departed
- PUB · Pueblo, CO
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 7V9 · Bent County Airport, runway 26, 3,870 × 40 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS, ADS-B
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
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 22, 2021
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 3,841 total · 2,172 in this make and model · 3,666 as pilot in command · 75 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 85 total · 85 in this make and model · 10 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.87 inHg
- Observed at
- LHX, 13 nm away
Docket · 8
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 28, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.8 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.
Other investigations on N9393H · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.