No fatalities

27 Dec 2008: CESSNA 172R — American Flyers — Morristown, NJ

Morristown, NJ, United States

On 27 Dec 2008, a CESSNA 172R operated by American Flyers was involved in an aviation accident near Morristown, NJ. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The flight instructor's failure to execute a missed approach when insufficient runway remained for landing. Contributing to the accident were the low ceiling and visibility conditions. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 16 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.

SourcesNTSBPrimary reportUpdated 1778583330Data APIEditorial standards

During an instrument training flight in fog, an instructor attempted a landing after seeing the runway late, resulting in a long touchdown and collision with a snow bank, causing structural damage.

Background

An instructor and a pilot-rated student were conducting instrument training. The reported weather included a vertical visibility of 200 feet and 1/4 mile visibility in fog.

First Approach

During the first instrument landing system approach, with the student at the controls, the runway was not visually acquired at the decision height. Consequently, a missed approach was performed.

Second Approach

For the second approach, the instructor took the controls and asked the student to monitor the radios and look for the runway environment. At 400 feet above ground level, the instructor saw the runway below, but noted that the airplane was "slightly high on the glideslope and a little fast." He elected to attempt a landing, reducing the throttle to idle and adding full flaps.

Accident

The airplane touched down long on the runway, and the instructor was unable to stop the airplane on the remaining runway. The airplane subsequently collided with a snow bank.

Damage

The collision resulted in structural damage to the fuselage.

Contributing factors

Causes

Pilot

Other contributing factors

Decision related to condition