Cessna 172R N975BC

Summary

On 13 February 2001 at about 17:50 local time, a Cessna 172R registered N975BC was involved in an accident near Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. One person was 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

13 February 2001 at 17:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Battle Creek, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

W K Kellogg Airport (BTL)

Coordinates

42.3092, -85.1106

Aircraft

Cessna 172R

Registration

N975BC

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Battle Creek → Battle Creek

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI01LA092

Nobody was injured.

Aircraft control not maintained by the student pilot during the takeoff roll. Factors to the accident were the student pilot's lack of experience and the snowbank.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings on his second solo flight. After the first landing was completed, the pilot advanced the throttle for the next takeoff roll when the aircraft swerved to the left, impacting a snowbank along the left side of the runway. The pilot reported, "I performed the first circuit [traffic pattern] correctly and placed [landed] the aircraft a little to the left of the centerline. My intention was to do a touch and go. I looked down upon touchdown to give the aircraft full throttle. As I did this I felt the nose shake a little. When I looked up, the tail simultaneously fishtailed to the right." The pilot reported, "I was heading directly for the left side of the runway edge. I tried to correct the situation with right rudder, but my recovery was either not quick enough or I didn't get enough response from the rudder." The pilot stated, "The nose hit the snow immediately at the edge of the runway and sunk in. The rest of the aircraft flipped over the sunken nose wheel."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.