N20488 – CESSNA 172M – 2015-10-02 NTSB Accident Report

On October 02, 2015, a Cessna 172M (N20488) was involved in an incident near Mcminnville, OR. All 2 people aboard were uninjured. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this incident to be: The flight instructor's failure to correct the student pilot's approach path during the final approach, which resulted in a collision with runway threshold lights. Contributing to the accident was the student pilot's failure to attain and maintain the recommended approach path.

The student pilot reported that on his first night training flight he was practicing takeoffs and landings. He stated that during his third approach, as he was turning from base to final, the precision approach path indicator (PAPI) displayed four red lights, indicating that he was below the recommended approach path. The flight instructor told him that he was too low and to add power. The student pilot added power and the far left PAPI light started to turn from red to white. He reported that on short final, he reduced engine power to idle and that during touchdown, the airplane collided with a runway threshold light.

This incident is documented in NTSB report GAA16CA011. AviatorDB cross-references NTSB investigation data with FAA registry records to provide comprehensive safety information for aircraft N20488.