- Date
- December 3, 1989, 15:05 local (20:05 UTC)
- Place
- Zephyrhills, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6479PCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891203048889A
- Case key
- 32605
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 not obtaining the current wind information which resulted in selecting the wrong runway for landing; improper recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing factor(s) was: the student pilot's lack of experience and the tailwind conditions.
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 plt stated that when he contacted UNICOM, he heard runway 32 was the active. But since it does not exist he interpreted the active as rwy 22. After touchdown with a right quartering tailwind, the acft bounced, drifted off the rwy, flew over a ditch, stalled, then touched down in sand and nosed over. The UNICOM operator stated that he heard the pilot call for a runway advisory, but before he could issue an advisory the pilot responded 'understand 22 Zephyrhills.' The operator then advised that the winds were favoring runway 36, but there was no response from the pilot. The pilot also stated he did not fly over the field to observe the windsock.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6479P
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15285026
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Alternative Flying Club, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Departed
- LAL · Lakeland, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- ZPH · Zephyrhills Municipal, runway 22, 5,000 × 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
- 37
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 28 total · 28 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Observed at
- LAL, 16 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.