Cessna 172 N738DB

Summary

On 17 March 2020 at about 19:14 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N738DB, operated by Fly Maui LLC, was involved in an accident near Kahului, Hawaii, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 March 2020 at 19:14

Classification

Accident

Location

Kahului, Hawaii, United States

Nearest airport

Kahului (OGG)

Coordinates

20.8897, -156.4358

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N738DB

Category

Airplane

Year built

1977

Engines

1

Operator

Fly Maui LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hana → Hana

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC20CA034

1 person had minor injuries.

The student pilot's failure to avoid wake turbulence while landing behind a heavy jet airplane, which resulted in a loss of roll control and subsequent hard landing.

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, while in the airport traffic pattern, the air traffic tower controller instructed her to follow a heavy jet airplane. She saw the heavy jet airplane and confirmed it with the tower controller who then cleared the pilot to land behind the heavy jet and provided a caution for wake turbulence. As she maintained a final approach to land "past the numbers" and prepared for the landing flare, the wings suddenly rolled right, and the nose dropped. She attempted to correct, but the airplane landed hard, skidded off the runway, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing, lift struts, and empennage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.