MIA02LA120

According to the student pilot, with the surface wind from 130 degrees at 8 knots, the aircraft yawed left when he brought the nose wheel off the runway surface during rotation for takeoff from runway 17. He brought power to idle and braked when he exited off the runway's left edge, but the grass provided little decelerative effect, and he collided with a ditch. The nose gear strut collapsed, the firewall was buckled, and the left wing spar was bent.

On May 15, 2002, about 1712 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N93989, registered to Valdosta Flying Services, Inc., operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, sustained a runway excursion into an adjoining ditch during takeoff from the Valdosta Regional Airport, Valdosta, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft received substantial damage, and the student pilot was not injured. The flight was departing when the accident occurred.

According to the student pilot, the tower called the winds, 120 degrees at 7 knots as he took runway 17 for takeoff. As he lifted the nose wheel for rotation, and before the main gear became airborne, the aircraft yawed left and in spite of right rudder and right aileron application, exited the runway off the left edge and into the grass. He pulled the power off and applied braking, but deceleration in the grass was marginal. He stated that he experienced no aircraft malfunction to cause the loss of directional control.

According to an FAA inspector, the occurrence was first reported as an incident, and was upgraded when mechanics conducted a closer inspection of the damage to the firewall and left wing spar. The accident occurred when the student pilot lost directional control of the aircraft and ran off the left side of runway 17, into a ditch, and collapsed the nose gear strut. The surface wind reported by the FAA Macon Automated Flight Service Station for Valdosta for the time 1653 was from 130 degrees at 8 knots.