N5535D

On July 25, 1999, at 0719 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 172N, N5535D, landed hard during an aborted landing attempt at the Prescott, Arizona, airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage; however, the student pilot was not injured. The instructional flight was operated Aero Vista, of Sedona, Arizona, under the provisions 14 CFR Part 91 when the accident occurred. The flight originated from the Sedona airport at 0645. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed.

The pilot reported that he was landing on runway 21L when he was unexpectedly blown off toward the right side of the runway. At the time, the pilot was compensating for a crosswind condition with a left wing low, forward slip attitude with full flaps and a 65-knot approach speed. He said that the left main gear touched down first and the airplane yawed left and ran off the left side of the runway. The student added that he had not been quick enough in applying the correct amount of right rudder to maintain runway alignment so he decided to go around. He added power and raised the flap lever but was unable to sufficiently maintain flying speed as the airplane lifted off the runway. He tried to avoid stalling by trying to remain in ground effect but, in spite of his efforts, the aircraft landed hard off the left side of the runway and bounced. At this point, he said he felt that he had lost control and reacted by abruptly closing the throttle and applying the brakes. The airplane ground looped, drug its left wingtip, and finally came to rest on the grass short of taxiway D2.

The wind direction and velocity at the time of the accident were being reported by Prescott air terminal information service (ATIS) as 160 degrees and 6 knots.