CESSNA 172N — Murrieta, CA

What happened

The pilot was taking his family for scenic flights after receiving his private pilot certificate about 2 weeks earlier. They completed one successful flight and then departed on the second, which was the accident flight. Upon returning to their departure airport, the airplane landed normally, but during the landing roll, the front seat passenger heard a “pop” sound and subsequently felt the airplane shake, at which time the pilot started to panic. The pilot advanced the throttle and the airplane lifted off the runway surface again. Surveillance video captured the airplane as it began to climb in a nose-high attitude, drifted left of the runway, then rolled inverted and rapidly descended.

Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The wing flaps were found in the retracted position. The source of the “pop” sound reported by the passenger could not be determined, nor could it be determined why the pilot chose to take off immediately after having successfully touched down on the runway, as he had planned a full-stop landing. The reported wind at the time of the accident indicated a headwind accompanied by a right crosswind that was within the airplane’s maximum demonstrated crosswind component.

The circumstances of the accident are consistent with the pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control. Evidence shows that the pilot retracted the flaps from the fully extended position to the flaps up position while the airplane was in a high angle of attack as it veered left of the runway towards buildings. The sudden retraction of flaps at a low altitude would have resulted in a loss of lift and a descent, which likely contributed to the loss of control.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.