- Date
- September 27, 1990, 18:40 local (Sep 28, 1990, 00:40 UTC)
- Place
- Erie, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N6581MCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900927042539A
- Case key
- 17996
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 misjudgement of distance and altitude, and the instructor's inadequate supervision.
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
The glider-rated student pilot was receiving dual transition instruction and was conducting touch and go landings. On the fourth approach, the instructor 'felt the airplane was low, but not dangerously so,' and told the student to add power. The instructor saw the orange marker balls on the powerlines but felt that the airplane had cleared them. The airplane severed two powerlines, landed short of the runway, struck a dirt bank and overturned. Runway 9 equipped with low intensity runway lights; does not have a VASI.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6581M
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15284769
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Tri-County Flight School, Inc.
- Departed
- 48V
- Airport
- 48V · Tri-County, runway 9, 3,830 × 60 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 36
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 835 total · 49 in this make and model · 727 as pilot in command · 53 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 190° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- BJC, 8 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.