What happened
A student pilot was conducting his second supervised local solo flight and was returning to Naples when the accident occurred. While on final approach to runway 05, the pilot crabbed the aircraft into the wind. As the aircraft descended below the tree line and approached touchdown, a wind gust between sixteen and twenty-five knots from 010 to 070 degrees struck the plane.
This gust caused the aircraft to pitch up, resulting in a stall. The aircraft subsequently came down on the left main gear and the left wing tip. During the sequence, the left main gear broke and dragged along the runway, causing the aircraft to rotate to the left and exit the runway into the grass. The nose gear then failed and dug into the turf, which caused the airplane to vault onto its back.
The investigation
An FAA inspector performed a postcrash examination of the accident aircraft. Witness accounts provided to the inspector indicated that the wind gust occurred near touchdown, leading to the pitch-up and subsequent stall.