Cessna 172 N1516E

Summary

On 3 July 2019 at about 22:00 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N1516E was involved in an accident near Montville, Maine, 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

3 July 2019 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Montville, Maine, United States

Coordinates

44.4386, -69.2667

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N1516E

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Belfast → Belfast

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA19CA407

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain the proper airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during a low-altitude climbing turn, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall. 

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he had performed a practice candy drop pass over a field about 300 ft above ground level. He then initiated a climbing 30º banked, right turn to circle back to the field and "neglected [the] airspeed," and the airplane aerodynamically stalled, descended, struck trees, and impacted the ground inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.