Cessna 172N N952AC

Summary

On 29 October 2006 at about 16:07 local time, a Cessna 172N registered N952AC was involved in an accident near Morgantown, West Virginia, 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

29 October 2006 at 16:07

Classification

Accident

Location

Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Morgantown Municipal Airport (MGW)

Coordinates

39.6428, -79.9164

Aircraft

Cessna 172N

Registration

N952AC

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Parkersburg → Morgantown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC07CA014

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control and the flight instructor's improper planning and supervision of the student's solo cross country flight. A contributing factor was the wind gusts.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot departed from his home airport on a solo cross-country flight. He performed a "touch and go" at his first destination. He then proceeded to his second intended destination but, his first approach to the runway was "too high" so he executed a go around. He then attempted to land a second time. Due to "gusting winds," he was unable to land and elected to return to his home airport. Upon arriving at his home airport, he found that the wind was also gusting and his plane "floated" during the flare for landing. He attempted to go around, but the right wing "rose up" abruptly, the plane veered to the left, and struck trees. The student pilot's flight instructor reviewed the wind conditions prior to the student pilot's flight, and completed a logbook endorsement, which included a limitation of a 15-knot maximum headwind and 12-knot maximum crosswind. Winds at the approximate time of departure were forecast to be gusting to 25 knots. A weather observation made 15 minutes prior to the accident recorded the wind to be varying in direction 70 degrees, and gusting to 23 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.