- Date
- February 3, 2005, 12:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Idaho Falls, ID
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5204KCessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 28, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Salt Lake City, UT
- FAA report
- 20050203001159A
- Case key
- 60949
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 and the instructor's inadequate supervision of the flight. A contributing factor was the deep snow beside the runway.
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 flight instructor reported that he and his student were performing touch and go landings on runway 35. On the second landing, the airplane touched down smoothly, and the flight instructor was "critiquing" the student's landing, when the student "unexpectedly added full power causing the plane to jerk to the left." The flight instructor reduced power and applied the brakes. He was unable to prevent the airplane from exiting the runway. When the nose wheel entered the "foot and a half deep snow" beside the runway, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The outboard left wing, the vertical stabilizer, and the wing struts sustained structural damage.
Factual narrative
On February 3, 2005, at 1230 mountain standard time, a Cessna 172N, N5204K, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over following a loss of directional control during the landing roll at Idaho Falls Regional Airport, Idaho Falls, Idaho. The student pilot and the flight instructor were not injured. The airplane was registered to Teton Leasing LLC of Pocatello, Idaho, and operated by Avcenter, Inc. of Pocatello. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 local instructional flight. The flight originated at Idaho Falls at 1215.
According to a written statement provided by the flight instructor, he and his student were performing touch and go landings on runway 35. On the second landing, the airplane touched down smoothly, and the flight instructor was "critiquing" the student's landing, when the student "unexpectedly added full power causing the plane to jerk to the left." The flight instructor reduced power and applied the brakes. He was unable to prevent the airplane from exiting the runway. When the nose wheel entered the "foot and a half deep snow" beside the runway, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The outboard left wing, the vertical stabilizer, and the wing struts sustained structural damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5204K
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17274009
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Avcenter, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Teton Leasing LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- IDA · Idaho Falls, ID
- Airport
- IDA · Idaho Falls Regional, runway 35
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Flight hours
- 243 total · 90 in this make and model · 11 in the last 90 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 43
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 10 total · 10 in this make and model · 5 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 28 °F
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 N5204K · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.