N13474

On May 9, 2001, at 1705 central daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N13474, was substantially damaged during landing. The airplane veered of the left side of the runway striking a sign and collapsing the right main landing gear. The student pilot was not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 local, instructional, student solo flight had departed Du Page Airport (DPA), West Chicago, Illinois, at 1700 on the student's second supervised solo flight. The airplane was landing on runway 19 (6,700 feet by 100 feet, dry asphalt). At 1700, the winds at DPA were reported as 240 degrees at 13 kts. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed.

The pilot reported, "At the point which I wanted to touchdown, my airspeed was still greater than I wanted, so I kept the aircraft off the ground until I reached a slower airspeed. I encountered a gust of wind, which pushed the plane left with the wind, and at the same time I touched the ground. As I touched the ground the plane immediately headed off the runway. The result was hitting a runway marking sign causing the right main landing gear to collapse and causing damage to the right stabilizer." The pilot also stated, "I did not have enough crosswind correction for the winds, which caused my situation." The student pilot had a total of 18 hours of flight time.