- Date
- February 21, 1999, 16:25 local (21:25 UTC)
- Place
- Pelion, SC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N65770Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 18, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990221001709A
- Case key
- 45783
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 pilot's loss of directional control during landing roll as a result of improper recovery from a bounced landing and the subsequent excursion from the runway, collision with the adjacent terrain, and collapse of the nose 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's second solo touch-and go-landing resulted in a bounced landing and violent nose wheel shimmy. He pulled slight back pressure to unload his nose wheel and lost directional control off the left side of the runway. The airplane collided with an intersecting taxiway, and collapsed the nose landing gear. Subsequent FAA examination revealed no discrepancies in the landing gear, braking, or steering systems.
Factual narrative
On February 21, 1999, about 1625 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172P, N65770, registered to Eagle Aviation, Inc., operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, crashed on landing to runway 35 at Pelion Corporate Airport, Pelion, South Carolina. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated about 5 minutes before the accident.
According to the student's CFI, the student and himself had just completed a 1-hour 12-minute dual instructional flight with eight landings, and the accident was the student's second solo touch-and-go landing. The CFI, an eyewitness to the occurrence, stated a right crosswind developed causing the airplane to drift left during flare. The pilot lost directional control and exited the runway off the left side. The runway excursion caused the nose landing gear to collapse and the propeller to strike the ground.
According to the student, his second solo landing resulted in a bounced landing, and as he added power for takeoff, the nose wheel shimmied violently. He then slightly rotated to take the weight off the nosewheel, as instructed, and drifted off the left side of the runway. The airplane encountered a crossing taxiway and collapsed the nose landing gear.
According to the FAA inspector, subsequent examination of the aircraft revealed that the nose landing gear folded back against the belly of the airplane damaging the firewall. The nosewheel and fork assembly broke from the strut assembly, and was laying next to the airplane. There was no report of any malfunction of the landing gear, steering, or braking systems.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65770
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172-75874
- Airframe hours
- 9,584
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Eagle Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 22, 1999 · 55 hours before
- Departed
- 6JO
- Airport
- 6JO · Pelion Corporate Airpark, runway 35, 4,335 × 60 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
- 30
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9 total · 9 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 9 knots, gusting 19
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 43 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CAE, 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.