N64198

On August 24, 1996, at 1145 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N64198, lost directional control, exited the runway, and the nose gear collapsed after colliding with a ditch during the landing roll on runway 28 at Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Truckee, California. The pilot was on a local visual flight rules solo instructional flight. The airplane, registered to DATS Aviation, d.b.a Regent Air, Truckee, sustained substantial damage, and the student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Truckee-Tahoe Airport at 1130.

The student pilot's instructor reported in a telephone interview conducted on August 28, 1996, that he and the company's mechanic observed the accident. He said that the student was on his second supervised solo flight. The first landing was without incident and the winds were calm. However, during the ground run on the second landing, the airplane's left wheel lifted off the runway and the airplane exited the runway. The instructor also said that on the second landing the surface winds were from the south between 3 and 4 knots.

In a statement made to the operator, the student said that when he flared the airplane between 5 and 10 feet above the ground, the left wing began to rise, and the airplane yawed to the left. He applied full right rudder, but without success. The airplane did not realign with the runway. The student then applied full power to execute a go-around, but the airplane touched the ground in a left crab angle and then exited the runway.

The reported surface winds were 150 degrees at 6 knots, gusting to 15 knots.