Incident Details
A low-time private pilot and his non-pilot wife were practicing touch-and-go landings. The pilot occupied the right seat while his wife occupied the left seat. During the final approach, the pilot recognized that the airplane was too high. He responded by adding full flaps and reducing power to idle.
Sequence of Events
After the pilot added full flaps and cut power, the airplane entered a high sink rate. By the time the pilot recognized the high sink rate, the airplane was too low for recovery. Full power was applied, but too late to arrest the descent. The airplane subsequently struck a fence and impacted the ground short of the runway.
Environmental Conditions
The density altitude at the time of the accident was reported as 8,000 feet. No other environmental factors were specified in the source.