Cessna 172R N997MC

Summary

On 28 January 2021 at about 15:45 local time, a Cessna 172R registered N997MC, operated by Aeroventures Flying Club Inc, was involved in an accident near Lawrenceville, Georgia, 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

28 January 2021 at 15:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Gwinnett County - Briscoe Fld (LZU)

Coordinates

33.9781, -83.9624

Aircraft

Cessna 172R

Registration

N997MC

Category

Airplane

Year built

1997

Engines

1

Operator

Aeroventures Flying Club Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lawrenceville → Lawrenceville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA21LA119

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing in a gusting crosswind, which resulted in a loss of control and runway excursion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was returning to his home airport after a short trip. Other than mild turbulence, there was nothing eventful about the trip. Upon nearing the airport and listening to the weather, he understood that winds were gusting from the northwest at 12 to 20 knots. This was on the high end of his personal minimums, but within the tolerance range that he had flown in the past. As he was preparing to land, he experienced some greater turbulence and crosswinds. The air traffic controller in the control tower gave him a straight in approach, and subsequently cleared him to land on runway 25. The approach was turbulent, and the plane was being bounced and pushed left intermittently. Due to the wind gust advisory, he landed with only 10°of flaps and about 10 knots more airspeed. His estimated speed over the threshold of the runway was about 70 knots. He stated that it was pretty gusty crossing the runway threshold. He landed the airplane and once the nosewheel was down, he started braking. Unexpectedly the plane moved to the left quickly. It seemed to him as though a large gust hit the airplane from the northwest side and pushed the airplane sharply to the left. He worked to counter the movement with right rudder but was unsuccessful in stopping the momentum. He nearly kept the airplane on the pavement, but the left tire just slipped off the edge of the runway. When the left tire contacted the newly sodded turf, combined with the recent heavy rain; the tire sunk quickly, as the turf was soft and very muddy. This rapid deceleration, and the left tire being off the pavement, caused the rear of the plane to “rise” and the propeller struck the runway. With this motion, and the left tire being below the pavement, the airplane pivoted to the left, and the left-wing tip struck the surface. The airplane came to rest on its landing gear, just off the runway surface.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.