- Date
- February 7, 2000, 14:35 local (20:35 UTC)
- Place
- Olive Branch, MS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2630BCessna 172R
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 29, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000207007319A
- Case key
- 48595
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 and the subsequent collision with a taxiway sign and collapsed right main landing gear.
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 stated that after one uneventful touch-an d-go landing, his second landing touchdown resulted in a sudden left swerve, excursion off the runway, and collision with a taxiway sign. The airplane came to rest with a collapsed right main landing gear and a broken right horizontal stabilizer. He further stated that he experienced no precrash mechanical malfunctions, and that he may have inadvertently applied left brake on touchdown.
Factual narrative
On February 7, 2000, about 1435 central standard time, a Cessna 172R, N2630B, registered to Douglas Aviation, Inc., operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, crashed during a landing at Olive Branch, Mississippi. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage and the student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated from the same airport about 55 minutes before the accident.
According to the assistant chief flight instructor for the flight school, the student pilot was conducting practice landings when he overcorrected for a crosswind condition and ran off the side of the runway, colliding with a runway sign.
According to the student pilot, he had made one successful touch-and-go landing, and the accident happened on his second landing, at touchdown. Upon main landing gear touchdown, the airplane swerved left and he corrected with right rudder. Upon application of right rudder, the right main landing gear came off the ground, and he then applied heavy braking to both main wheels. The airplane exited the runway and the right main landing gear collapsed as it collided with a taxiway sign. The airplane came to rest on its right side, severely bending the right horizontal stabilizer. He stated that he experienced no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane on landing, and that he may have inadvertently stepped on the left toe brake.
Inspection of the airplane by FAA personnel revealed no evidence of precrash abnormalities with the flight controls. The right main landing gear and the nose gear revealed ground collision damage, but there was no evidence of propeller damage. The right horizontal stabilizer spar was broken.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2630B
- Reported as
- Cessna 172R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17280665
- Airframe hours
- 388
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Douglas Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 29, 1999 · 89 hours before
- Departed
- OLV
- Airport
- OLV · Olive Branch, runway 36, 6,000 × 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
- 16
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 36 total · 36 in this make and model · 7 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MEM, 10 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N2630B · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.