A student pilot reported the instructor took the controls on short final during a stable approach; attempted to go around but landed off the runway and into a ditch.

Date: 2022-03 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear · Phase: landing

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-ground-strike-aircraft|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

A student pilot reported the instructor took the controls on short final during a stable approach; attempted to go around but landed off the runway and into a ditch.

Narrative

I was flying left seat as a student pilot in a Cirrus SR22 accompanied by a CFI. We had previously entered the pattern and completed two land and taxi backs on runway XX. We took off again from runway XX to remain in the pattern. As we were on downwind a Cessna coming in for a full stop landing on short final executed a go-around and said so on CTAF. I had a visual on the Cessna as he went around. I turned base on an extended downwind originally giving him some space to taxi off the runway. As we turned to final I could see the Cessna clear of the runway on the upwind. We were approaching the runway in a stable configuration. Prior to crossing the threshold the power was to idle and my instructor said to keep the nose up to keep us in ground effect so I could feel it. As I was holding the nose up my instructor said my controls. In my mind I wasn't sure why he wanted to take control. We were stable and about to touchdown but I immediately removed my hands from the flight controls and said your controls. I didn't know if he saw something I did not. I heard the engine come up to full power and saw him apply go-around thrust. At that point my sight picture went to nothing but sky. My first thought was we are about to have a tail strike. As the nose came down I saw we were at about a 45 degree angle right of the runway centerline and we were heading for the grass. As the nose gear came down I could see that we were inevitably going to hit the ditch so I braced for impact. Once the plane came to a stop I looked up to check for any flames which I didn't see. At the same time I cut the mixture; turned off the ignition; and moved the tank selector to off. I checked on my CFI and then exited the plane once I knew we were not injured and able to do so.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.