Cessna 172B Ground Contact During Training Flight at El Salto Aerodrome

Incident Overview On October 1, 2022, at 14:00 local time, a Cessna 172B aircraft made contact with the ground 56.7 meters before the threshold of runway 21 at El Salto Aerodrome (SCEO), located in the commune of Parral, Maule Region. The aircraft was conducting a training flight with a flight instructor and a student pilot aboard. ## Flight Details The flight was planned as a review of the private pilot course, including traffic circuits, due to the student pilot's extended period without flying. The aircraft departed from El Salto Aerodrome and began a left-hand traffic circuit to runway 21. During the final approach, while descending, the aircraft made contact with the ground before the runway threshold. ## Impact and Damage Upon ground contact, the main landing gear struck a mound of earth, causing the nose to pitch forward. This resulted in the nose gear leg impacting the ground and fracturing. The aircraft then skidded 30 meters before coming to rest 14.2 meters before the runway 21 threshold. The aircraft sustained damage including a deformed left wing, a fractured nose gear leg, a deformed and fractured firewall, fractured landing gear leg fairings, deformed propeller blades, deformed left cabin and cargo access doors, and deformed lower forward fuselage and tail cone coverings. ## Personnel The flight crew consisted of a 79-year-old Chilean flight instructor with a private pilot license and a 51-year-old Chilean student pilot. Both individuals were uninjured in the accident. The instructor had 2,609 total flight hours, while the student pilot had 39 total flight hours.