- Date
- August 18, 1993, 18:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mcgaheysville, VA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N60648Cessna 150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930818029739A
- Case key
- 38637
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 flight instructor's inadequate supervision resulting in a delayed go-around.
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 was preforming a simulated forced landing. The certified flight instructor stated that during the approach it became apparent that the touchdown point would be too long for the 1900 foot runway. He also stated that he did not add power to start a go-around in a 'timely manner,' and they were too low to miss the higher terrain at the end of the field. He managed to maneuver around a house and fence and landed between trees.
Factual narrative
On Wednesday, August 18, 1993, at 1800 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150, N60648, registered to and piloted by Donald L. Dofflemyer, sustained substantial damage when it impacted trees in McGaheysville, Virginia. The pilot and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR 91.
This was a training flight for the student pilot. The Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) simulated an engine failure, and the student was conducting a forced landing. The CFI stated:
It was obvious that we were too high. I waited until about mid-field and applied full power. At this point, carb heat off and full flaps, the plane was tending to lose altitude. It was as though the engine wasn't developing full power...we were...too low to get over the...hill...we were able to land between two trees.
Mr. Jim Jacobsen, Aviation Safety Inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted an examination of the wreckage and interviewed the Certified Flight Instructor. In his report, Mr. Jacobsen stated:
I met with the pilot/CFI who took me to the site. He explained that the seventeen year old student was given a simulated engine out forced landing. ...At about two to three hundred feet it became apparent that he was going [to be long]. The instructor said to me that he failed to add power in a timely fashion....The landing...terrain continues to rise from one end to the other, which may have caused him to feel secure...but as he explained, he waited too long to add power, while facing rising terrain.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N60648
- Reported as
- Cessna 150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15070476
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald L. Dofflemyer
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 1, 1993
- Departed
- SHD · Shenandoah, VA
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,600 total · 550 in this make and model · 1,600 as pilot in command · 165 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.