- Date
- July 4, 2004, 07:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- La Junta, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3581SCessna 172E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20040704014049A
- Case key
- 59570
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 aircraft control and adequate airspeed during the go-around resulting in an inadvertent stall. Contributing to the accident was the low airspeed and altitude.
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
According to the pilot, he had soloed the previous week, and he wanted to practice takeoffs and landings. He said he was uncomfortable with his landing approach to the runway, and elected to make a go-around. The airplane was at a low airspeed when he applied full power, and it yawed to the left. The pilot said the airplane stalled and impacted terrain on the left side of runway.
Factual narrative
On July 4, 2004, approximately 0745 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172E, N3581S, registered to and operated by Prairie Flyers, Inc., of Rocky Ford, Colorado, was destroyed when it collided with terrain during an attempted go-around at the La Junta Municipal Airport, La Junta, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The training flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot reported no injuries. The local flight originated at 0730.
In a telephone interview with, and according to the report submitted by, the pilot, he said he had soloed the previous week, and he wanted to practice takeoffs and landings. He was uncomfortable with his landing approach to runway 30, and elected to make a go-around. The airplane was at a low airspeed when he applied full power, and it yawed to the left. The pilot said the airplane stalled and impacted terrain on the left side of runway 30, between runways 08 and 30. The engine was torn away from the airframe, the landing gear buckled the fuselage, the left wing and the left and right horizontal stabilizers were crushed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3581S
- Reported as
- Cessna 172E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17250781
- Airframe hours
- 4,597
- Engine
- Continental O-300-D, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Prairie Flyers, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 16, 2004 · 62 hours before
- Departed
- LHX · La Junta, OH
- Destination
- LHX
- Airport
- LHX · La Junta Muni, runway 30, 5,800 × 60 ft, concrete
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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15 total · 15 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Observed at
- LHX, 1 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.