- Date
- December 23, 2010, 09:25 local (14:25 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Myers, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N385MECessna 172S
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 26, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20101223055769A
- Case key
- 78059
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 pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s attempt to take off with full flaps.
Findings · 2
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 pilot, he was practicing touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. During the takeoff roll following his eighth landing, he said he felt a gust of wind push the plane to the left. He applied full right aileron, but could not arrest the turn. He then applied the brakes, but the airplane departed the left side of the runway, impacted a ditch, and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the firewall, wings, and vertical stabilizer. During a subsequent examination of the wreckage, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found the flaps in the FULL, 30-degree position. The inspector also reported that there were no anomalies with the airplane. The reported wind at the airport about the time of the accident was from 350 degrees at 7 knots.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, he was practicing touch and go landings on runway 5, a 6,404-foot-long, 150-foot-wide runway. During the takeoff roll following his eighth landing, the pilot felt "a gust of wind pushing…the plane to the left." He applied full right aileron, but could not arrest the turn. The pilot then applied the brakes, but the airplane departed the left side of the runway, impacted a ditch, and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the firewall, wings, and vertical stabilizer. During a subsequent examination of the wreckage, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found the flaps in the FULL, 30-degree position. The inspector also reported that there were no preexisting mechanical anomalies with the airplane. Winds, recorded at the airport about the time of the accident, were from 350 degrees true at 7 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N385ME
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S8580
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Sundowners Inc
- Registered owner
- Sundowners Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 15, 2010
- Departed
- FMY · Fort Myers, FL
- Destination
- FMY · Fort Myers, FL
- Airport
- FMY · Page Field Airport, runway 05, 6,404 × 150 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
- 54
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 20, 2010
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 162 total · 72 in this make and model · 84 as pilot in command · 34 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- FMY
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 13, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.9 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.