Stall / Spin · NTSB ANC17FA003
CESSNA 172 — Palmer, AK
| Date | October 29, 2016 |
| Location | Palmer, AK |
| Aircraft | CESSNA 172 |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Maneuvering-low-alt flying Aerodynamic stall/spin |
| Pilot age | 25 |
| Pilot total time | 65 hrs · Student / very low time |
| Time in type | 65 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained - C
What happened
The student pilot was flying the airplane over a remote river valley as his friends and relatives were driving their all-terrain vehicles in the valley. The pilot executed a touch-and-go landing on a gravel bar, and, just after takeoff, the airplane entered a steep climb and turned to the left. During the left turn, the wings of the airplane rolled perpendicular to the ground, and it descended in a near-vertical, nose-down attitude to ground impact. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The flight profile was consistent with the pilot exceeding the airplane's critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control at an altitude too low to allow for recovery.