Cessna 172P N65983

Summary

On 13 May 1997 at about 01:10 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N65983, operated by American Flyers, was involved in an accident near Morristown, New Jersey, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 May 1997 at 01:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Morristown, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Morristown Municipal (MMU)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N65983

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

American Flyers

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

NYC97LA090

1 person was seriously injured.

The flight instructor's inadequate supervision which allowed the student to solo at night with less than one hour of night instruction with a known inoperative landing and taxi light. A Factor was the student pilot's spatial disorientation which resulted in the loss of control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

This was the instructor's second instructional flight with the student, and he had given no prior night instruction to the student. The student had a total flight experience of 52 hours, of which .7 was night time, logged in January 1997. During this second instructional flight, the instructor elected to verbally authorize the student to conduct his first supervised solo at night with an inoperative landing light. The student stated that it was very dark and there was no visible horizon when he elected to perform a go-around during the third landing attempt. The student pilot also stated that he thought the airplane was in a 'high pitch attitude' during the go-around. During the go-around, the airplane descended and impacted the ground. A manager of the operator stated that it was a standard operating procedure to alternate instructor's on a regular basis, and typically a student would receive instruction from several different instructor's prior to solo.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.