Cessna 172M N1897V

Summary

On 13 November 2001 at about 18:10 local time, a Cessna 172M registered N1897V, operated by Sunbird Flight Services, was involved in an accident near Chandler, Arizona, 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

13 November 2001 at 18:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Chandler, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Chandler (CHD)

Coordinates

33.2403, -111.7810

Aircraft

Cessna 172M

Registration

N1897V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Sunbird Flight Services

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chandler → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA026

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the student pilot to maintain directional control during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On landing, the airplane veered off the runway, struck a taxiway sign, and sheared off the main landing gear. The student was on his first supervised solo flight. He completed one landing, taxied back, and the accident occurred on the second landing. He maintained an approach speed between 70 and 75 knots until over the numbers. He had the flaps at 40 degrees and the throttle in about 1/2 inch. He reduced the throttle by half to land and landed a hard on the main gear. The airplane bounced about 2 feet back into the air, so he fully reduced the power and the airplane settled back to the runway. The airplane began to veer to the right; he countered with a little left rudder, but did not feel a correction. He thought the airplane would leave the runway, and removed his right foot from the rudder pedal. He stomped on the left pedal, but could not prevent the airplane from departing the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.