Cessna 172 N6353E

Summary

On 29 October 2016 at about 22:45 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N6353E was involved in an accident near Palmer, Alaska, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

29 October 2016 at 22:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Palmer, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

61.4822, -148.7739

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N6353E

Category

Airplane

Year built

1959

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Wasilla → Wasilla

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC17FA003

1 person died.

The student pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during a steep climbing turn following a touch-and-go landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at too low of an altitude to recover.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot was flying the airplane over a remote river valley as his friends and relatives were driving their all-terrain vehicles in the valley. The pilot executed a touch-and-go landing on a gravel bar, and, just after takeoff, the airplane entered a steep climb and turned to the left. During the left turn, the wings of the airplane rolled perpendicular to the ground, and it descended in a near-vertical, nose-down attitude to ground impact. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The flight profile was consistent with the pilot exceeding the airplane's critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control at an altitude too low to allow for recovery.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.