Cessna 172S N748SP

Summary

On 6 June 2002 at about 19:05 local time, a Cessna 172S registered N748SP was involved in an accident near Monterey, California, 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

6 June 2002 at 19:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Monterey, California, United States

Nearest airport

Monterey (MRY)

Coordinates

36.6003, -121.8799

Aircraft

Cessna 172S

Registration

N748SP

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Monterey → Columbia

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA184

Nobody was injured.

The pilot was unfamiliar with the airplane's systems and failed to set the elevator trim in accordance with the published checklist.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane veered off the runway during takeoff; the nose gear collapsed aft and damaged the firewall and fuselage. While in the run-up area the pilot went through her checklist, and received an altitude alert message and a horn went off. She said she pushed every button she could to turn the alert off, but was unsuccessful. She taxied back to the hangar where her flight instructor popped the circuit breaker for the autopilot, which was giving the alert message. Once it was turned off, she taxied out to takeoff. The pilot began the takeoff roll and attempted to rotate, but the control yoke was not effective. The pilot slammed on the brakes, but the airplane departed the right side of the runway. The airplane had full nose down trim after the accident. The pilot said she did not know that she had to manually recycle the trim after pulling the circuit breaker. Section four of Supplement 15 to the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) described normal procedures for the use of the autopilot. Paragraph A.2 contained a warning that the manual electric trim and autopilot were inoperative if the circuit breaker was pulled. Paragraph eight instructed the pilot to manually set the trim to the takeoff position. Section four of the POH described normal procedures. The before takeoff checklist instructed the pilot to insure that the elevator trim was set for takeoff.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.