- Date
- July 14, 2003, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Gaithersburg, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N49400Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20030714012969A
- Case key
- 57458
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 an aborted landing.
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
During the flight the student pilot performed three successful landings to runway 32, a 4,201-foot-long, 75-foot-wide runway. She then intended to perform a full-stop landing; however, during the touchdown, the airplane bounced twice. The student pilot then aborted the landing by adding full power and retracting the flaps. She "lost control of the airplane" during the climb, veered left of the runway centerline, and impacted trees. The student pilot stated that there were no wind gusts, and she experienced no mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On July 14, 2003, at 0930 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N49400, was substantially damaged during an aborted landing at Montgomery County Airpark (GAI), Gaithersburg, Maryland. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the student pilot, the accident flight was her second solo flight. During the flight, she performed three successful landings to runway 32, a 4,201-foot-long, 75-foot-wide runway. She then intended to perform a full-stop landing; however, during the touchdown, the airplane bounced twice. The student pilot then initiated a go-around, by adding full power and retracting the flaps. She "lost control of the airplane" during the climb, veered left of the runway centerline, and impacted trees.
The student pilot reported about 13 hours of total flight experience, all of which were in make and model. She stated that there were no wind gusts, and she experienced no mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to both wings, the fuselage, and the empennage.
Winds reported at Dulles International Airport (IAD), Dulles, Virginia, 19 miles southwest of Gaithersburg, at 0851, were from 010 degrees at 4 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N49400
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15281238
- Airframe hours
- 6,440
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 108 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Washington Flying Club
- Registered owner
- Ran Barlev
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 7, 2003 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- GAI · Gaithersburg, MD
- Destination
- GAI · Gaithersburg, MD
- Airport
- GAI · Montgomery County Airpark, runway 32, 4,201 × 75 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 20
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13 total · 13 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.18 inHg
- Observed at
- IAD, 18 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.