Summary
On June 23, 2009, a Cessna 177B (N34508) was involved in an accident near Elyria, OH. The accident resulted in 1 minor injury. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this accident to be: The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control and adequate airspeed during the aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude.
The accident occurred during the student pilot's second landing on her first solo flight. She stated that the airplane began to porpoise immediately after the nose landing gear touched down. The airplane completed several porpoise cycles before she decided to abort the landing. After increasing engine power and becoming airborne, the airplane began to veer left toward some trees situated alongside the runway. To correct for the left veer, she applied right rudder and, in an attempt to decrease drag, reduced the flap setting from 20 to 10 degrees. The airplane stalled during a right turn, about 20 to 30 feet above the ground, and entered a nose-down attitude. She was able to level the airplane before it landed hard on all three landing gear off the left side of the runway.
This accident is documented in NTSB report CEN09CA381. AviatorDB cross-references NTSB investigation data with FAA registry records to provide comprehensive safety information for aircraft N34508.
Accident Details
Probable Cause and Findings
The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control and adequate airspeed during the aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude.
Aircraft Information
Registered Owner (Historical)
Analysis
The accident occurred during the student pilot's second landing on her first solo flight. She stated that the airplane began to porpoise immediately after the nose landing gear touched down. The airplane completed several porpoise cycles before she decided to abort the landing. After increasing engine power and becoming airborne, the airplane began to veer left toward some trees situated alongside the runway. To correct for the left veer, she applied right rudder and, in an attempt to decrease drag, reduced the flap setting from 20 to 10 degrees. The airplane stalled during a right turn, about 20 to 30 feet above the ground, and entered a nose-down attitude. She was able to level the airplane before it landed hard on all three landing gear off the left side of the runway. The engine firewall and fuselage were substantially damaged during the event. The student pilot stated that asymmetric loading of the propeller (P-Factor) caused the airplane to veer left after she increased engine power for the aborted landing. She noted that she had not received flight instruction demonstrating the airplane's flight characteristics while in ground effect at airspeeds at or near stall speed.
Data Source
Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# CEN09CA381