C172 flight instructor and their student reported the student did not account for the crosswind while landing; resulting in a loss of control and runway excursion.
Synopsis
C172 flight instructor and their student reported the student did not account for the crosswind while landing; resulting in a loss of control and runway excursion.
Narrative
After completing an instrument lesson with a private pilot; we are landing Runway XX at ZZZ and the wind was 080 at 8 kts. As we are on final; my student veers off center line of the runway so I explain to them to use wind correction and aileron inputs into the wind to track toward the runway and stay on the center line. The entire approach was stable all the way down into the round off and flare. I am the primary instructor of this student and they have had pretty consistent landings during my training with them; but regardless; as an instructor; I am always ready to take over controls; especially during landings. As we are touching down I realize that the student is no longer doing any wind correction with the ailerons or rudder. We touch down and the nose is pointed to the right so I call out left rudder to which they are unresponsive. I then call my controls to the student twice before they let go and I can now control the airplane. At this point; we are about to go off the runway into the grass so the only thing I have time for is to maintain elevator back pressure to prevent the nose from getting stuck in the ground. I avoid hitting any of the lights or any part of the runway environment and I maintain positive control of the plane and am able to get back on the pavement for the turn off of the runway onto the taxiway. When we return to parking I inspect the plane and determine that there was no damage to the plane and debrief my student on what happened and how we could have prevented this from occurring by maintaining our wind correction during the landing roll. As an instructor; I believe I did the best I could to control the situation. I believe simple wind correction could have prevented the problem and if the student felt like they did not have control of the plane then a go-around could have been appropriate. I have always been very cautious with students and I don't believe I let my guard down; but it just goes to show that sometimes all it takes is a small slip-up to develop into a bigger issue and that I should always be prepared. During our debrief; I made plans with that student to go over training in crosswind procedures including taxi; take-off; and landing prior to any additional training.
Second reporter narrative
Came in to land on Runway XX and misjudged crosswind correction. I came down to the right of center line and applied crosswind correction too late. Landed to the right of center line and rolled off of the runway into the grass. I believe that it would have been avoidable if I identified the crosswind and applied appropriate correction earlier to stay on center line while coming into land.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.