- Date
- April 8, 2025, 08:51 local (12:51 UTC)
- Place
- Zeeland, MI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N6561FCessna 150F
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR go-around: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 9, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration - Grand Rapids FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250408006539A
- Case key
- 199978
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 flight instructor’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during the go-around which led to the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and entering an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action and her failure to ensure that the student had relinquished control of the airplane during the go-around.
Findings · 6
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 flight instructor and student were conducting a primary instruction flight. The flight instructor reported that the student allowed the airplane to get low and slow during a landing approach. The flight instructor took control of the airplane, added full throttle for a go-around, and began to retract the flaps. The flight instructor recalled being unable to reduce airplane pitch and believed her student may have still been on the flight controls. The student reported that after the flight instructor took control of the airplane it got too slow and entered an aerodynamic stall. Airport surveillance video showed the airplane flying over the runway in a nose-high pitch attitude and yawed left when it descended and impacted the ground left wing first. The airplane then nosed over and came to rest inverted in the grass next to the runway. The airplane’s forward fuselage and vertical stabilizer were substantially damaged during the ground impact and subsequent nose over. Neither the flight instructor nor the student reported any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. The flight instructor reported that the accident could have been prevented had she not been “overconfident” in the student’s ability to land the airplane, if she had ensured the student had relinquished control of the airplane when she began the go-around, and if she had been quicker to recognize the situation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6561F
- Reported as
- Cessna 150F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15063161
- Built
- 1966
- Airframe hours
- 6,796
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Wings Aero LLC
- Registered owner
- Wings Aero LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 21, 2025 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- Z98 · Zeeland, MI
- Destination
- Z98 · Zeeland, MI
- Airport
- Z98 · Ottawa Executive Airport, runway 2, 3,800 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- Pilot
- Age
- 19
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 26, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 262 total · 4 in this make and model · 172 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 27
- Injuries
- None
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 2 total · 2 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,600 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 28 °F, dew point 14 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- KBIV, 9 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KBIV 081253Z AUTO 34003KT 10SM OVC036 M02/M10 A3016 RMK AO2 SLP222 T10171100=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 9, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 15.8 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 N6561F · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.