17 Mar 2020: Cessna 172 S

17 Mar 2020: Cessna 172 S — Unknown operator

No fatalities • West Palm Beach, FL, United States

Probable cause

The failure of the nosewheel steerage linkage during takeoff, which resulted in a loss of directional control and impact with an obstacle during an attempted aborted landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

According to the flight instructor, after a normal pre-flight inspection of the airplane and engine run-up, the student pilot taxied to the runway for takeoff and began the takeoff roll. Everything seemed normal as the airplane accelerated; however, as the airplane rotated it started to yaw abnormally to the left. The flight instructor attempted to overcome the left yaw by pressing on the right rudder to assist the student pilot. He was unable to overcome the left yaw, took over the flight controls and aborted the takeoff. The airplane bounced to the left and collided with the bank of a retention pond.Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the forward fuselage and firewall was buckled. Further examination revealed that the nose gear steering tube rod end failed and rust was noted on the threaded area of the fractured surfaces.

Contributing factors

  • cause Landing gear steering system — Failure
  • cause Attain/maintain not possible
  • cause Effect on operation

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 070/08kt, 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.