The student pilot reported that during the landing roll in gusty right crosswind conditions the right wing lifted and the Aerostar Festival R40S drifted off the runway to the left.
The airplane hit terrain, which resulted in a collapsed nose gear and substantial damage to the right wing.
A review of recorded data from the automated weather observation station located on the airport in Frankfort, Michigan, revealed that, about seven minutes before the accident the wind was 050° true at 5 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, and sky clear. The airplane landed on runway 15.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll in gusty crosswind conditions, which resulted in a runway excursion, a nose gear collapse, and impact with terrain.
NTSB Identification: GAA16CA401
This July 2016 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.
Looking at the metars, it reminds me of a day I experienced at the airport that was very unusual. 90-95% of the time, conditions were perfectly ideal, but occasionally, there was a whopper of a gust. This went on a majority of the day. I remember watching a new Cub land and being hit with one of these unexpected gusts right at touchdown/rollout – it resulted in a ground-loop to the right with the aircraft finally coming to a stop on the grass between the runway and taxiway after a complete 360 best I can remember – no ground equipment touched and no damage to the airplane fortunately. The metars that day at Frankfort Airport make me think totally unexpected conditions could have occurred. The metar actually closest to the accident time (7 minutes before) indicated a shift in the winds from 060@5kts to 120@3kts – and the first one after the accident (13 minutes after) indicated winds 350@9kts variable 290 to 020. There were other metars earlier and later that day that recorded gusts of 16. The wind velocities in the metars are not big numbers, but the reality is with that much shifting of direction, there can be some moments where the wind is truly strong and will catch any pilot by surprise as I witnessed.
050 at 5 knots??????? You call that a gusty crosswind? An Ultralight could land in that.
Student pilot. Wonder what restrictions were placed on that student in their log book for solo flight?
If the student exceeded that restriction, the CFI is off the hook, right?