Cessna 172 N455ER

Summary

On 4 October 2022 at about 10:45 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N455ER, operated by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc, was involved in an accident near Sanford, Florida, United States. 2 people were 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

4 October 2022 at 10:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Sanford, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Orlando Sanford Intl (SFB)

Coordinates

28.7786, -81.2347

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N455ER

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Daytona Beach → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA23LA017

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's unstable approach, which resulted in a hard landing and impact with a runway threshold light. Also causal was the flight instructor’s failure to take remedial action to prevent the hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot under instruction was flying a practice power-off 180° maneuver from the downwind leg at the accident airport. The flight instructor stated that on final approach the airplane’s airspeed was slow and the flight path was low. He stated that since the purpose of the flight was to evaluate student’s piloting skills, he allowed the approach to proceed and did not tell the student to add power or go around. The airplane landed firmly at the runway threshold and the horizontal stabilizer impacted a runway threshold light. Postaccident examination revealed that the horizontal stabilizer sustained substantial damage. The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that a go-around maneuver should have been initiated when the approach became unstable.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.