No fatalities

26 Mar 2017: CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR20 NO SERIES — Cleveland, TN

Cleveland, TN, United States

On 26 Mar 2017, a CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR20 NO SERIES was involved in an aviation accident near Cleveland, TN. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The flight instructor's inadequate supervision, which resulted in a premature rotation for a no-flap takeoff and subsequent loss of airplane control during the initial climb. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 12 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.

SourcesNTSBPrimary reportUpdated 1778583330Data APIEditorial standards

An instructional flight ended with a hard landing, runway excursion, and collapse of landing gear after the flaps were not set for takeoff.

Narrative

A flight instructor was conducting an instructional flight in an airplane owned by the student pilot. According to the instructor, he did not notice that the student pilot had not set the flaps to the appropriate position for takeoff, as required by the before-takeoff checklist. After rotation during the initial climb, the student pilot experienced difficulty maintaining directional control. The instructor took control of the airplane at an altitude of about 10 feet above the runway. At that point, the stall warning annunciator was audible, and the airplane began to sink. The instructor pushed the nose over but was unable to recover before the airplane landed hard and subsequently departed the right side of the runway.

Aircraft Damage

Upon leaving the runway, the landing gear dug into mud, causing the airplane to spin around. The nose gear and left main landing gear collapsed, resulting in substantial damage to the elevator and vertical stabilizer.

Instructor Report

The flight instructor reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

Causes

Instructor/check pilot

Other contributing factors

Not used/operatedContributed to outcome