Cessna 172L N7639G

Summary

On 26 January 1999 at about 00:30 local time, a Cessna 172L registered N7639G was involved in an accident near Santa Paula, California, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 January 1999 at 00:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Paula, California, United States

Nearest airport

Santa Paula (SZP)

Coordinates

34.4004, -119.0708

Aircraft

Cessna 172L

Registration

N7639G

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oxnard → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX99LA082

Nobody was injured.

The instructor pilot's misjudged altitude and speed, which resulted in a failure to attain the proper touchdown point causing an overrun and collision with a block wall. A factor was the wet runway, which may have hindered brake effectiveness.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

Basic instrument flight maneuvers were practiced on the dual instrument instructional flight. The pilot under instruction was given a series of headings, altitudes, and airspeeds to fly. These vectors terminated in the airport traffic pattern and when the pilot under instruction removed his vision restricting device, the airplane was on final approach close to the runway and left of centerline. The pilot under instruction stated that he would have gone around if he were alone and stated this to the instructor. The instructor then took control of the airplane and a landing was attempted. Witnesses said the touchdown was approximately halfway down the wet 2,650 foot-long-runway. The pilots said they felt there was no apparent braking, especially from the right brake. The airplane departed the runway, traveled through a muddy overrun area, then back onto a taxiway and into a block wall. Two skid marks were evident before and after the overrun area. The brakes were functionally checked after the accident with no discrepancies found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.