N4368R

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On June 23, 2005, about 2030 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N4368R, sustained substantial damage when it impacted the ground in an uncontrolled descent following a loss of control during a go-around from the Flying M Airport near Yamhill, Oregon. The flight instructor and the student pilot received fatal injuries, and the passenger received serious injuries. The airplane was registered to and operated by Hillsboro Flying Club of Portland, Oregon. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed from the Portland-Hillsboro Airport about 1945.

In an interview conducted by the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC), the passenger stated that she wanted to go flying with her boyfriend, the student pilot, to see how he was doing. She knew she could only fly with him when he was flying with his flight instructor. The arrangements for the flight were made about a week before it took place. The day of the flight was a beautiful day, so she knew they would be going. When asked what they had planned for the flight, the passenger said "all we were supposed to do is go on a flight so I could see how [the student pilot] was doing." The plan was to land at Twin Oaks Airport, Hillsboro, Oregon. While at Twin Oaks, the flight instructor would sign off the student pilot to make solo flights there in the future. The plan "did not happen."

The student pilot was seated in the left front seat, the flight instructor was seated in the right front seat, and she was seated in the left rear seat. She was wearing a headset and could talk and listen to both pilots. She had a lap belt only. She thinks both pilots had shoulder harnesses and lap belts. Once they got airborne, the flight instructor started having the student pilot practice stalls. After three stalls, the passenger asked them to stop as it was making her nervous. Then they flew to an airport that had a grass airstrip and a paved airstrip. She did not recognize the airport. She had been to Twin Oaks before, and this airport did not look like Twin Oaks. They landed a few times on the grass airstrip. The flight instructor told the student pilot that he wanted him to practice landing at a grass airstrip because this would help him to land if he ever had an engine problem. The flight instructor made the first landing and takeoff from the grass airstrip to demonstrate for the student pilot. Then the student pilot made "a couple of takeoffs and landings." The passenger said that this was the pattern the instructor followed when training the student - he landed first, then the student would land. She knew this because the student pilot had told her about it when they talked about his flying.

The passenger recalled that a few times during the flight, the flight instructor said "my airplane." This made her mad because she wanted to see her boyfriend fly. The passenger said that the flight "turned into instruction instead of just a flight." She was starting to get drowsy. She usually fell asleep when she went flying. The last thing she remembers about the accident flight is that they were flying away from the airport where they had made the landings. The next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital.

According to one witness, who was a pilot and resided at the airport, the airplane made a left traffic pattern for landing on runway 25. The airplane was high on final approach, and the pilot slipped first one way and then the other to lose altitude. The slips were "picture perfect" and the pilot then executed a "perfect flare" at a point where about 1,800 feet of the 2,125-foot-long grass airstrip was available for landing. The witness stated that the airplane was in no danger of overshooting the runway and could "have easily landed and stopped on the runway." With the airplane at an altitude of about 10 feet agl, the pilot added power. The witness expected the airplane to climb out straight ahead; however, the airplane turned left until it was "sideways" to the runway, the nose pitched up, and the airplane climbed steeply to about 80 to 100 feet agl before stalling. The airplane pivoted about its left wing, descended in a near vertical attitude and impacted the ground. When asked about engine power, the witness stated that the power was "on full", but the engine was "running rough, like the carburetor heat might have been on."

Another witness, who was not a pilot, but had observed many airplanes land at the airport, reported that he first saw the airplane when it was on final approach. The motion of the airplane seemed odd to him as it slipped to the right and then to the left. The airplane then "swung into a normal descent," and it looked to the witness to be in the correct position to touch down about a third of the way from the runway threshold, at the "normal" touchdown location. When the airplane was at an altitude of 6 to 8 feet agl, he heard the engine throttle up. The airplane's nose started to come up and it rolled to the left. The airplane ascended in a nose high attitude, and at the top of its climb, it "whipped over," pivoting around the left wing to a nose down vertical attitude. The airplane descended and hit the ground right wing first. When asked about engine power, the witness stated that the airplane's engine was running at "full throttle" until it hit the ground.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The flight instructor held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single engine land and instrument airplane ratings and a flight instructor certificate with an airplane single engine land rating. His most recent second class medical certificate was issued on October 10, 2003, with the limitation, must wear corrective lenses.

Review of the flight instructor's FAA airman records indicated that he received his private pilot certificate on October 5, 1985, by completion of the required test. He received his commercial pilot certificate on February 10, 1993, on the basis of military competence obtained in the United States Air Force. On November 18, 2003, he received his flight instructor certificate by completion of the required test.

On May 29, 2004, the flight instructor was involved in an accident while providing flight instruction to a student in a Cessna 172M at Vernonia Municipal Airport, Vernonia, Oregon. According to the NTSB Factual Report on the accident, the flight instructor was performing a simulated engine out forced landing as a demonstration for his student. During the landing on the 2,940-foot-long grass runway, the airplane touched down long, overran the runway end, and struck a fence. The flight instructor and the student were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was "the instructor pilot's misjudgment of speed and distance and his failure to execute a go-around resulting in an overrun of the runway." The flight instructor's FAA airman records indicated that on July 9, 2004, he completed a reexamination given by an FAA inspector.

A pilot logbook belonging to the flight instructor was found in the airplane. The entries in this logbook began on October 13, 2003, and continued to an entry on June 22, 2005. The entries totaled 624.8 hours flight time, all in single engine land airplanes, of which 565.4 hours were acting as a flight instructor. The logbook showed total time carried forward of 4,000 hours of which 2,000 hours were in single engine land airplanes and 2,000 hours were in multiengine land airplanes.

There were no entries found in the flight instructor's logbook showing a flight into the Flying M Airport. However, another flight instructor submitted a written statement indicating he had flown into the Flying M Airport with the accident flight instructor on March 10, 2005. He stated that they "performed two approaches, two full-stop landings, and two takeoffs" in a Cessna 182. He further stated that the accident flight instructor "was advised of the special considerations necessary for flight operations at the Flying-M Ranch" and "performed the second approach, landing, and takeoff as pilot in command."

The student pilot was issued a third class medical certificate on June 6, 2005, with the limitation, must wear corrective lenses. Review of the student pilot's flight logbook, which was found in the airplane, revealed that as of June 20, 2005, he had accumulated a total of 12.1 hours flight time of which 10.2 hours were dual flight instruction and 1.9 hours were solo. The logbook indicated the student received all of the flight instruction from the flight instructor, and the flight instructor endorsed the logbook for solo flight on June 10, 2005.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

Examination of the airplane's maintenance records indicated that the 1974 model Cessna Skyhawk received its most recent annual inspection on February 17, 2005, at a total time of 7,542.1 hours. As of that date, the engine, a Lycoming O-320-E2D, S/N RL-49952-27A, had accumulated 1,190.2 hours since factory remanufacture. Review of the maintenance records revealed no evidence of any uncorrected maintenance discrepancies.

A "Cry Log" found in the airplane listed no uncorrected cries or discrepancies. The most recent cry stated "stall warning horn very light at 70 mph, not grounding." This cry was written up by the student pilot. The resolution to the problem stated that the stall warning system was inspected from the wing to the horn and no visible signs of a problem were found. Additionally, the resolution stated that the airplane was test flown and no defects in the stall warning system were noted. The test flight was made on June 14, 2005.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

At 2053, the reported weather conditions at McMinnville Municipal Airport, McMinnville, Oregon, located approximately 14 nautic...