Cessna 172 N1223F

Summary

On 31 May 1999 at about 22:30 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N1223F was involved in an accident near West Milford, New Jersey, United States. 3 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 May 1999 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

West Milford, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Greenwood Lake (4N1)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N1223F

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Teterboro → West Milford

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC99LA131

1 person had minor injuries.

The flight instructors failure to maintain climb airspeed during the go-around, which degraded climb performance, resulting in an in-flight collision with terrain. Factors in the accident were, delay in executing a go-around, retracting the flaps to 10 degrees prematurely, and high density altitude.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

No anomalies were noticed during the engine run-up checks. After flying for about an hour, the instructor with two students entered the traffic pattern to conduct a normal approach, and landing. The wind sock was fully extended, and indicating winds out of the south. At 5 to 10 feet above the runway, the instructor felt the student could not complete the landing safely. The instructor took the controls, and executed a go-around. He applied full power, and retracted the flaps to 10 degrees. After retracting the flaps, the instructor felt the airplane was 'sluggish,' and not climbing, so he lowered the nose to maintain airspeed. An 'overwhelming' gust then pushed the airplane off the right side of the runway, and it descended into rough terrain. The stall warning horn was not on during the go-around, but the instructor felt the airplane was close to stalling. After the accident, the Engine was run on the airframe, and no pre impact failures were identified. The airplane's information manual calls for 20 degrees of flaps initially during a go around, and 55 knots of airspeed. Stall speed was listed as 44 knot with flaps down and power off.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.