Incident Details
A student pilot was on his first supervised solo flight. According to the student's report, on the downwind leg, the aircraft was too high, so he extended 10 degrees of flaps. On base leg, he extended flaps to 20 degrees. Before turning onto final approach, he further extended them to 30 degrees. The student then realized the aircraft was getting too low, so he retracted the flaps. The aircraft subsequently descended extremely low, collided with power lines approximately half a mile from the runway, and crash landed in an open field.
Instructor's Assessment
The chief instructor believed that the student's flight instructor used improper methods and released the student for solo flight before he was ready. Two other experienced instructors provided an additional 40 hours of dual instruction to the student, and they did not re-solo him.
Follow-up Training
After the incident, the student received extensive additional training from the two experienced instructors. Despite the extra 40 hours of dual instruction, the student was not deemed ready for another solo flight. No further details regarding the student's subsequent progress or the outcome of the instructors' assessment were provided in the source.