A flight instructor and student were practicing short field landings in a Cirrus SR22 at the airport in Milledgville, Ga. When the airplane was about 20 feet above the ground and on final approach, the airspeed suddenly decreased.
The student pilot applied full engine power. The airplane yawed to the left, then hit the ground short of the runway.
The flight instructor took the flight controls, decreased the engine power to idle, and applied the brakes. The Cirrus hit a taxiway sign, resulting in substantial damage before coming to a stop.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the student pilot’s failure to maintain a proper approach path for landing and the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action, which resulted in a runway undershoot and collision with a taxiway sign.
NTSB Identification: ERA13CA222
This April 2013 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I have similar total hours to John and 338 hours in Cirrus aircraft, two thirds of that in the SR22. I’ve done all of the maneuvers in both required for pilot certification, plus have taken both on some pretty long trips. I think the flying characteristics are very good in all phases, and the cabins are the most comfortable I have experienced. The Cirrus’ have been the best selling aircraft for quite a few years – that speaks for itself.
NTSB forgot to add, The airplane is a twitchy, poor flying POC, with extremely poor low speed handling characteristics.
John,
I’m curious as to why you would make such a statement. You were not there and for you to call an airplane a POC tells us that perhaps you are not as wise as you claim to be as an aviator. Please keep your poor comments to yourself and don’t make the rest of us wonder why a fellow pilot (I assume you are one of some sort) would post a comment like this.
I make these comments because they are true, after 50 years in aviation, as of this September 13th, over 15 thousand accident and incident free hours, with experience in 126 different aircraft, including the Cirrus, I standby my statements, The Cirrus line are twitchy, not fun to fly, high priced POC, with altogether too many shortcomings. Just because I refuse to drink the Kool-Aid, that is no reason to call into question my wisdom.