- Date
- January 31, 1998, 11:15 local (16:15 UTC)
- Place
- Valdosta, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N738YKCessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980131000849A
- Case key
- 38447
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 failure of the student to recover (pull-up) from the intentional maneuver resulting in the in-flight collision with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the ostentatious display by the student.
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 had flown low over his father who was on a tractor in a field near the crash site. The student then climbed to 3,000 feet where he performed a departure stall, followed by a descending spiral. He stated that while descending he became disoriented and did not recover from the descending spiral before impact with the ground. He further stated that he had buzzed someone on an earlier flight and was advised by his flight instructor not to do so again. He also stated that there was no airframe or engine preimpact failure or malfunction.
Factual narrative
On January 31, 1998, about 1115 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172N, N738YK, registered to the Valdosta Flying Service, Inc., dba Holland Flying Service, collided with terrain about 10 miles southeast of the Valdosta Regional Airport, Valdosta, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated about 45 minutes earlier from the Valdosta Regional Airport.
The student pilot stated that he flew low over his father who was on a tractor near the field where the airplane crashed. He then climbed to about 3,000 feet and performed a departure stall, then entered a descending spiral and became disoriented. He did not recover from that maneuver until impact with terrain. The student had been previously warned by his flight instructor not to "...buzz anyone", based on an earlier admission by the student that he buzzed someone on an earlier flight. The student pilot also stated that there was no airframe or engine preimpact failure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N738YK
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17270340
- Airframe hours
- 5,630
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Valdosta Flying Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 9, 1998 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- VLD
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
- 24
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 31 total · 21 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VLD
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 N738YK · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.