- Date
- December 15, 2016, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Madisonville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7646WPiper PA28
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20161215023789A
- Case key
- 94519
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 directional control during landing with a gusting crosswind.
Findings · 5
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 student pilot reported that, during landing after a cross-country solo flight, as the main landing gear touched down, the airplane encountered a crosswind, and he lost control of the airplane. He further reported that the airplane exited the right side of the runway and came to rest in the tree(s). The student pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. There was no local historic weather observation facility within 25 nautical miles of the accident airport, but the student pilot reported the wind direction was variable at 5 knots gusting to 10 knots. The student pilot landed runway 5.
Factual narrative
The student pilot reported that during landing after a cross-country solo flight, as the main landing gear touched down the airplane encountered a crosswind and he lost control of the airplane. He further reported that the airplane exited the right side of the runway and came to rest in the tree(s). The student pilot reported there were no pre impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. There was no local historic weather observation facility within 25 nautical miles of the accident airport, but the student pilot reported the wind direction variable, at 5 nautical miles per hour (knots), gusting 10 knots. The student pilot landed runway 5.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7646W
- Reported as
- Piper PA28 (180)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-1621
- Built
- 1964
- Airframe hours
- 3,884
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A3A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 1, 2016
- Departed
- SRB · Sparta, TN
- Destination
- MNV · Madisonville, TN
- Airport
- MNV · Monroe County, runway 05, 3,643 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 43
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 31 total · 31 in this make and model · 16 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 3 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.35 inHg
- Observed at
- KTYS, 25 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 7, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 764 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.