2023-07 · NASA ASRS report 2018533
Cessna 172 student pilot reported a loss of aircraft control on a taxiway when a thunderstorm moved over the airport. The extreme winds caused the airplane to tip forward onto the propeller and wingtip. The pilot contacted ATC and was safely evacuated.
I was taking my first solo flight in the Cessna 172 to practice some maneuvers to the south over Location A. Prior to the flight I contacted my instructor to see if I was OK to fly; and he asked me if I was aware of the convective activity in the area. I told him that I was but that I would keep an eye on it. I did some maneuver work to the south of the airport and after about a half an hour I checked the radar and saw a storm coming into the airport from the north. At the same time my instructor texted me and told me I should probably head back to the airport. As I came in on final for Runway XXL; everything seemed to be fine; I noticed a bit of a tailwind as I landed that caused the plane to bounce a bit upon landing; but other than that I hadn't noticed any wind at all. As I taxed off the runway and back to the west ramp via [Taxiway] XX; I began to notice an extremely strong crosswind coming in as well as some rain. I slammed in the left rudder to attempt to keep the plane on the centerline as I got pushed to the right; and put in my crosswind correction with my ailerons. My first instinct was to put in some power to try to get back to the ramp as quickly as possible; but I noticed myself losing control over the airplane as well as my airspeed quickly bumping up to 45-50 knots; and going back down. I knew that there was a chance that this was just from the pitot indicator being blown on so hard by the wind; and I saw that visually it didn't appear that I was going that fast; but I didn't want to risk accidentally getting the plane to rotate; as it's rotation speed is 55 knots; so I did what I thought was the safest option and pulled the power back to idle; and tried to just slowly work my way back to the ramp. Even with the power fully idle and the carb heat on I still noticed the airspeed indicator moving as the wind gusted. As I reached Taxiway XY I stomped on the brakes as I got pulled way off of the centerline and attempted to regain control of the aircraft. As I realigned myself with the centerline as best I could; I looked up to make sure nobody was about to land on Runway XY-XZ as I was approaching it and began moving to it. As this happened the plane began to tip over; and fell forward on the prop and left wingtip. I contacted ZZZ ground and let them know what happened and from there I shut off the plane; and they got me out of it. After I had been out of the plane for about 30 seconds; the plane re-leveled itself off of the prop and the wing and back onto all 3 wheels.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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