Incident Overview
During a night dual instructional flight, the student pilot, who had approximately 28 hours of total flight time and was receiving her first night instruction, was at the controls. The aircraft struck trees while on a landing approach. The flight instructor took control and proceeded to fly the airplane to another airport, roughly 10 miles away, where they landed successfully.
Reporting and Detection
Neither the flight instructor, the registered owner of the aircraft, nor the student pilot reported the accident. The damage was discovered during a routine ramp surveillance by an FAA inspector, who observed that the aircraft had sustained substantial damage.
Pilot Background
The student pilot had accumulated about 28 hours of total flight time. This flight was her first experience with night dual instruction.