- Date
- May 16, 2010, 09:25 local (13:25 UTC)
- Place
- Blue Hill, ME
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N733XDCessna 172N
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20100516034029A
- Case key
- 76036
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 inability to maintain directional control while landing with gusting winds.
Findings · 1
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
According to the flight instructor, he was demonstrating a soft-field landing to a grass runway in a tricycle-gear airplane. During the landing roll on runway 34, a “strong wind gust from the right” lifted the airplane’s right wing, and the airplane “slid sideways to the left.” The student pilot noted that the airplane had landed “midline,” and after the gust of wind struck, the nose of the airplane headed left even though the instructor had applied full right rudder and aileron. The airplane’s left wing subsequently grazed small tree branches, then impacted a bigger branch that rotated the airplane counter-clockwise. The airplane came to rest perpendicular to the grass runway, with the airplane’s nose facing into the trees. The airplane’s left wing tip and right wing leading edge were damaged. The flight instructor and the student pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane. Weather, reported about 9 miles east of the accident site, included winds from 320 degrees at 12 knots, gusting 17 knots.
Factual narrative
According to the flight instructor, he was demonstrating a soft field landing to a grass runway in a tricycle-gear airplane. During the landing roll on runway 34, a “strong wind gust from the right” lifted the airplane’s right wing, and the airplane “slid sideways to the left.” The student pilot noted that the airplane had landed “midline,” and after the gust of wind struck, the nose of the airplane headed left even though the instructor had applied full right rudder and aileron. The airplane’s left wing subsequently grazed small tree branches, then impacted a bigger branch that rotated the airplane counter-clockwise. The airplane came to rest perpendicular to the grass runway, with the airplane’s nose facing into the trees. The airplane’s left wing tip and right wing leading edge were substantially damaged. The flight instructor and the student pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane. Weather, reported about 9 miles east of the accident site, included winds from 320 degrees at 12 knots, gusting 17 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N733XD
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17268623
- Airframe hours
- 5,854
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Jej Leasing LLC
- Registered owner
- Jej Leasing LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 7, 2010
- Departed
- BHB · Bar Harbor, ME
- Destination
- 07B · Blue Hill, ME
- Airport
- 07B · Blue Hill Airport, runway 34, 3,186 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 14, 2008
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,721 total · 1,100 in this make and model · 1,644 as pilot in command · 33 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 107 total · 90 in this make and model · 23 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 12 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- BHB, 9 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 6, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 705 KB 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.