N478ER – Cessna 172 – 2020-06-03 NTSB Accident Report

On June 03, 2020, a Cessna 172 (N478ER) was involved in an incident near Las Vegas, NV. 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 student pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during a soft-field takeoff and the flight instructor's delayed remedial action.

The flight instructor reported that during the instructional flight with the student pilot on the controls to practice a soft-field takeoff, the airplane started turning to the left "drastically" shortly after the airplane became airborne. The student told the flight instructor that he could not control the airplane, so the instructor assumed control to try and realign the airplane to runway centerline and re-touch down to abort the takeoff. Despite the flight instructors control inputs, the airplane continued to veer left and exited the left side of the runway. The airplane collided with the terrain substantially damaging the left wing.

The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

This incident is documented in NTSB report WPR20CA167. AviatorDB cross-references NTSB investigation data with FAA registry records to provide comprehensive safety information for aircraft N478ER.