Cessna 172M N80859

Summary

On 14 February 2006 at about 19:10 local time, a Cessna 172M registered N80859, operated by French Valley Aviation, Inc., was involved in an accident near Murrieta, California, 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

14 February 2006 at 19:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Murrieta, California, United States

Nearest airport

French Valley Airport (F70)

Coordinates

33.5742, -117.1283

Aircraft

Cessna 172M

Registration

N80859

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

French Valley Aviation, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Murrieta → Murrieta

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06CA115

Nobody was injured.

a partial loss of engine power resulting from the student pilot's mismanagement of the mixture control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane landed hard in a field adjacent to the airport during an attempted takeoff. The purpose of the solo flight was for the student pilot to perform practice touch-and-go takeoff and landings. After completing a normal takeoff, he continued around the traffic pattern and then preformed a normal landing. During the landing rollout he retracted the flaps, input full throttle, and pushed the mixture control partially forward, leaving it out about 7/8 inch. The airplane lifted off the runway surface and climbed to about 50 to 100 feet above ground level (agl), with an airspeed of about 60 knots. The airplane was not able to maintain the airspeed and the student pilot thought the engine was only producing partial power. While performing a precautionary landing in an open field the airplane landed hard. Post accident examinations by both the operator and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed no evidence of engine or airframe anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The FAA inspector stated that the signatures on the spark plugs indicated a very lean condition. An engine run was conducted the day following accident and the FAA inspector ran the engine noting no discrepancies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.