Cessna 172P N98885

Summary

On 31 May 2004 at about 20:20 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N98885 was involved in an accident near Mesquite, Texas, 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

31 May 2004 at 20:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Mesquite, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Mesquite Metro Airport (HQZ)

Coordinates

32.7414, -96.5247

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N98885

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Addison → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW04LA146

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's delayed landing flare and the improper supervision provided by the flight instructor.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The single-engine airplane landed hard on Runway 35, during an instructional flight. The flight instructor reported that on final approach, the airspeed was at 65 knots and the student pilot was delaying the landing flare. The flight instructor allowed the student pilot to continue the landing because he expected the landing to "be flat and on all three wheels at the same time, then discuss the pros/cons of the approach to land during the taxi back." The instructor put his right hand on the yoke and started to add slight backpressure. At this time, the instructor's headset began to come off, preventing him from stating, "my controls;" however, he pulled back harder on the yoke when he noticed the student pilot was applying opposite pressure. The instructor was unable to raise the nose, thus resulting in a nose wheel first landing. After landing, the instructor grabbed the yoke with both hands and applied backpressure, and the airplane lifted off the ground. The instructor realized that something was wrong with the propeller, so he pulled the throttle and the mixture out and landed the airplane. As he lowered the nose, the airplane continued to nose-over.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.