On March 26, 1995, a Cessna 152 (registration N757JQ) was involved in an aviation accident near Oakland, MD. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: the student pilot's abrupt remedial action during the aborted landing attempt. Related factors are the student pilot's lack of total experience, inadequate airspeed and the low altitude. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive; 8 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.
A student pilot with 23 hours of experience experienced a low airspeed stall warning during an aborted landing attempt, leading to a nose-first ground impact and inverted rest.
What happened
The incident occurred during an aborted landing attempt when the aircraft's airspeed dropped significantly. The student pilot reported that the indicated airspeed was as low as 40 knots at the time the stall warning horn activated. In response to these aerodynamic conditions, the pilot attempted to correct by placing the aircraft in a nose-down attitude. However, the maneuver was executed while the aircraft was in close proximity to the terrain.
The aircraft subsequently impacted the ground nose-first. Following the collision, the airplane came to rest in an inverted position on the surface. The student pilot involved in the operation had accumulated 23 hours of total flight time at the time of the event.