14 Feb 2011: CESSNA 172H — Vermont Flight Academy, Inc

14 Feb 2011: CESSNA 172H — Vermont Flight Academy, Inc

No fatalities • Plattsburgh, NY, United States

Probable cause

The student pilot's loss of directional control during the landing flare in gusting wind conditions and the certified flight instructor's delayed remedial action.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The flight instructor and student reported that they were practicing touch-and-go takeoffs and landings, and during the second approach, the airplane's airspeed and altitude decreased further than intended. Subsequently, the left wing contacted the runway resulting in substantial damage to the left wing tip. The flight instructor took control and landed the airplane. While taxiing to the ramp, they observed that the winds had increased more than reported. The winds recorded at the airport, prior to and after the accident, were variable from the west and south at 7 to 10 knots, and gusting up to 17 knots. The flight instructor reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Instructor/check pilot
  • Response/compensation

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 260/07kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.