Cessna 172 N9991E

Summary

On 19 July 2024 at about 20:00 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N9991E, operated by Wings Flight Enterprises Inc, was involved in an accident near Danville, Kentucky, United States. 3 people were 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

19 July 2024 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Danville, Kentucky, United States

Nearest airport

Stuart Powell (DVK)

Coordinates

37.5776, -84.7695

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N9991E

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Wings Flight Enterprises Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Knoxville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA352

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane while landing and his inadequate communication to the pilot-rated passenger of her role during the flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot (who was the pilot-in-command for the flight) was flying with two passengers, one of whom was seated in the right front pilot seat, held a commercial pilot certificate, and had more flight experience than the private pilot. The pilot-rated passenger in the right front seat reported that during the approach, she had commented to the pilot twice about the airplane’s airspeed, and that she had nudged the yoke forward with one finger as an indication to the pilot to lower the nose; however, the pilot pulled back on the yoke and added power to cushion the landing, which resulted in several bounces on the runway before the airplane traveled off the left side. She further described that the landing flare occurred while the airplane too high above the runway and at too slow a speed, about 15 ft above the runway and at an airspeed decreasing to less than 50 knots. The pilot reported that during the landing attempt, after the pilot-rated passenger pushed the yoke forward, he pulled back because he did not want the nose of the airplane to strike the runway first, which resulted in a hard landing and subsequent bounce. As the pilot was attempting to regain control of the airplane, the pilot-rated passenger increased the engine power to full in attempt to abort the landing, but the airplane then veered to the left and departed the runway surface. The airplane came to rest upright in a grass area next to the runway. The fuselage was substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He also stated that, “…we will need to improve the communication between me as the PIC and [any pilot-rated passengers] such as informing me of their concern rather than touching the control, especially during landing.”

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.