- Date
- August 24, 1996, 11:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Truckee, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N64198Cessna 172M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960824023979A
- Case key
- 29542
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 inadequate compensation for the existing crosswind condition and failure to maintain directional control. The encounter with a ditch was a related factor.
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 student pilot was on his first solo flight. The first full stop landing on runway 28 was without incident. On the second landing, a left crosswind raised the airplane's left wing, and the airplane yawed to the left. The student pilot applied right rudder, but without success. The airplane exited the runway and collided with a ditch. The student pilot and the operator reported that the airplane did not experience any preexisting malfunction or failure. The surface winds were reported to be from the southeast at 6 knots, gusting to 15 knots.
Factual narrative
On August 24, 1996, at 1145 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N64198, lost directional control, exited the runway, and the nose gear collapsed after colliding with a ditch during the landing roll on runway 28 at Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Truckee, California. The pilot was on a local visual flight rules solo instructional flight. The airplane, registered to DATS Aviation, d.b.a Regent Air, Truckee, sustained substantial damage, and the student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Truckee-Tahoe Airport at 1130.
The student pilot's instructor reported in a telephone interview conducted on August 28, 1996, that he and the company's mechanic observed the accident. He said that the student was on his second supervised solo flight. The first landing was without incident and the winds were calm. However, during the ground run on the second landing, the airplane's left wheel lifted off the runway and the airplane exited the runway. The instructor also said that on the second landing the surface winds were from the south between 3 and 4 knots.
In a statement made to the operator, the student said that when he flared the airplane between 5 and 10 feet above the ground, the left wing began to rise, and the airplane yawed to the left. He applied full right rudder, but without success. The airplane did not realign with the runway. The student then applied full power to execute a go-around, but the airplane touched the ground in a left crab angle and then exited the runway.
The reported surface winds were 150 degrees at 6 knots, gusting to 15 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N64198
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17265080
- Airframe hours
- 7,182
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dats Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 3, 1996 · 89 hours before
- Airport
- TRK · Truckee-Tahoe, runway 28, 7,000 × 100 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
- 42
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 42 total · 42 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 6 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TRK
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.