- Date
- March 18, 2025, 10:46 local (14:46 UTC)
- Place
- Palmetto, FL
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N1369EChampion 7AC
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250318010859A
- Case key
- 199875
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 overpower control inputs made by the student pilot during initial climb, which resulted in the airplane impacting powerlines and the ground.
Findings · 3
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
The instructional flight was the student pilot’s second ever flight. The flight instructor reported that he was flying the airplane for the takeoff and initial climb. During the departure, the “nervous” student pilot grabbed the control stick and applied full left aileron input. The flight instructor tried to regain control of the airplane but was unsuccessful. The airplane subsequently struck power lines at a height of about 25 ft above ground level before impacting the ground. The flight instructor and the student were seriously injured and both of the airplane’s wings, the fuselage, and the empennage were substantially damaged during the accident. A postaccident examination of the airplane’s flight controls revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation, nor did the flight instructor report any.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1369E
- Reported as
- Champion 7AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-4930
- Airframe hours
- 3,592
- Engine
- Continental A-65, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 4, 2024 · 40 hours before
- Airport
- 48X · Manatee, runway 07, 3,200 × 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
- 86
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Flight engineer, Remote
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 28,401 total
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 69
- Injuries
- Serious
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- Lap only
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- MCF, 12 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KMCF 181355Z AUTO 05010KT 10SM CLR 18/M00 A3019 RMK AO2 SLP226 T01791004 $
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 17, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.6 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.