- Date
- November 24, 2014
- Place
- Obyan
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N12915Cessna 172M
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 11, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration FSDO
- FAA report
- 20141124022719A
- Case key
- 90528
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 loss of airplane control during the landing flare in gusting wind conditions.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot was flying the first leg of a solo cross-country flight. The departure was uneventful, and she requested a stop-and-go landing with air traffic controllers as she approached the first destination. She received the clearance and began to initiate the descent while extending the flaps. During the landing flare the airplane encountered a gust of wind, and she applied forward elevator pressure. The nosewheel struck the ground hard and she attempted to perform a go-around, but the airplane departed to the right of the runway and came to rest in a grass area. The nose gear was bent aft during the initial ground strike, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and forward fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was flying the first leg of a solo cross-country flight. The departure was uneventful, and she requested a stop-and-go landing with air traffic controllers as she approached the first destination. She received the clearance and began to initiate the descent while extending the flaps. During the landing flare the airplane encountered a gust of wind, and she applied forward elevator pressure. The nosewheel struck the ground hard and she attempted to perform a go-around, but the airplane departed to the right of the runway and came to rest in a grass area. The nose gear was bent aft during the initial ground strike, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall and forward fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N12915
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17262368
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 11,212
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Micronesian Aviation Systems Inc
- Registered owner
- Micronesian Aviation Systems Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 21, 2014 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- GUM · Agana
- Destination
- GSN · Obyan
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- GSN · Francisco C. Ada/Saipan Intl, runway 07, 8,700 × 200 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 24, 2014
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 76 total · 12 in this make and model · 38 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- PGSN
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 9, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.1 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.