- Date
- May 5, 2025, 17:55 local (22:55 UTC)
- Place
- South Saint Paul, MN
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7951WPiper PA28
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Minneapolis FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250505005659A
- Case key
- 200113
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 inadvertent brake application during the touchdown, that resulted in abnormal runway contact and a loss of directional control. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s inadequate supervision of the student pilot during the landing.
Findings · 4
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
During the instructional flight, the airplane was landing to the runway with the student pilot operating the flight controls. Upon touchdown, the airplane “swerved hard to the left.” The flight instructor immediately announced, “my controls” and he attempted to maintain directional control. He reported the loss of directional control happened “so fast” and that he was unable to recover the airplane. After the accident, the student pilot reported that he “may have had his feet on the brakes” upon touchdown. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount, with a bend in a truss tube. The flight instructor reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation. The flight instructor further reported that in the future, he will be having new student pilots announce, “heels on the floor” during the landing flare, to prevent inadvertent brake application.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7951W
- Reported as
- Piper PA28 (180)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-1998
- Built
- 1964
- Airframe hours
- 5,421
- Engine
- Lycoming Engines O-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 30, 2025 · 6 hours before
- Airport
- SGS · South St Paul Muni/Richard E Fleming Fld, runway 16/34, 4,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Auto-pilot
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
- 64
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 19, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 16,500 total · 122 in this make and model · 7,000 as pilot in command · 26 in the last 90 days · 26 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 30
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 5, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 10 total · 5 in this make and model · 10 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.96 inHg
- Observed at
- KSGS
- METAR
- KSGS 052255Z AUTO 15005KT 10SM CLR 24/01 A2996 RMK AO2 T02440011
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 20, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.6 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 N7951W · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.