Cessna 172 N5203H

Summary

On 3 August 2016 at about 16:50 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N5203H, operated by M.I. AIR Corp., was involved in an accident near Palm Springs, 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

3 August 2016 at 16:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Palm Springs, California, United States

Nearest airport

Jacqueline Cochran Rgnl (TRM)

Coordinates

33.6369, -116.1564

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N5203H

Category

Airplane

Year built

2007

Engines

1

Operator

M.I. AIR Corp.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chino → Palm Springs

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA16CA416

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control during an aborted landing, which resulted in a runway excursion and a nose over in rough terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The solo student pilot reported that during the landing roll, the airplane drifted to the right of the runway centerline and he applied left rudder to correct. He further reported that he decided to abort the landing and applied full power. Subsequently, the airplane veered to the left, departed the runway, and nosed over in rough terrain. The student pilot reported that the airplane remained at "full power" through the nose over.  The vertical stabilizer and both wings sustained substantial damage. The student pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The Federal Aviation Administration Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge in part states: "To the pilot, "torque" (the left turning tendency of the airplane) is made up of four elements that cause or produce a twisting or rotating motion around at least one of the airplane's three axes. These four elements are: 1. Torque reaction from engine and propeller 2. Corkscrewing effect of the slipstream 3. Gyroscopic action of the propeller 4. Asymmetric loading of the propeller (P-factor)" It is likely that the student pilot did not counteract the left turning tendencies with sufficient right rudder after power was added to abort the landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.