Cessna 172M N1409U

Summary

On 8 February 2018 at about 17:30 local time, a Cessna 172M registered N1409U, operated by Airgo Inc, was involved in an accident near Centralia, Illinois, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 February 2018 at 17:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Centralia, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Centralia Muni (ENL)

Coordinates

38.5158, -89.0917

Aircraft

Cessna 172M

Registration

N1409U

Category

Airplane

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Airgo Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN18LA092

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall/spin.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting a takeoff for a supervised instructional flight. During the rotation, the right wing dropped. The pilot “turned the yoke to the left,” but the right wing continued to drop, which increased the bank angle. The pilot stated that he applied back pressure and said to himself, "I'm done." Subsequently, the airplane impacted the ground on the west side of the runway resulting in substantial damage to the empennage, fuselage, and both wings. A witness, who was a flight instructor, reported that he was taxiing an airplane parallel to the runway from which the accident airplane took off. He stated that the airplane had a “very short ground roll” and a “nose high attitude” on takeoff. He watched the nose of the airplane continue to pitch up, and when the airplane was between about 150 and 200 ft above ground level, the right wing dropped “quickly,” the nose pitched down, and the airplane began to spin to the right before it impacted the ground. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Examination of the airplane revealed that the empennage had separated partially from the fuselage, that both wings exhibited aft accordion crushing, and that the engine was crushed aft into the fuselage. Given the flight instructor’s description of the accident sequence and the airplane damage, the pilot likely exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall/spin.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.