The flight instructor reported that, while abeam the intended touchdown point at the airport in Wickenburg, Arizona, he reduced power to idle for the student pilot to perform a simulated engine failure approach.
The student pilot maneuvered for the runway and added full flaps (40°), decreasing airspeed to about 62 to 68 knots. The instructor asked the student if he believed he would be able to make the runway given his airspeed, and the student pilot retracted the flaps to 0° and then back to 25°.
The Piper PA-28 began to sink, the flight instructor added full flaps to “regain some lift,” and he instructed the student pilot to recover. The student pilot put both hands on the yoke and pitched up. The flight instructor said, “my controls,” applied full power, and attempted to lower the nose, but the student pilot froze and continued to pitch up.
The flight instructor repeated the exchange of flight controls command, the student pilot released control of the yoke and retracted the flaps to 0°.
The flight instructor put the flaps back to 25° and pitched the nose down in an attempt to recover. The airplane hit the top of a tree, the flight instructor reduced power and landed short of the runway. The nose landing gear collapsed.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and empennage.
The FAA inspector reported that, after conducting interviews, it was revealed that the flight instructor took control of the airplane “well below 500′ from the ground.”
He added there may have been a communication barrier between the flight instructor and the student pilot. He reported that the student pilot paused for 20 to 30 seconds to comprehend each question before answering.
Probable cause: The student pilot’s failure to relinquish flight controls and premature flap reduction during approach to land.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA234
This April 2018 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.
Well, I think the students knowledge of English could be a problem. I know instructors should anticipate every scenario but how much does the student actually comprehend. If English is a second language he should be certain than under stress or in an emergency the student should know exactly what to do.
CFI should “practice” commands and control exchanges with the student pilot before getting into the plane.
As all Instructors know, allowing knowledge to occur varies from student to student. However, the instructor MUST have a safety floor for that knowledge to occur.
In this example, when the instructor asked the student if it was believed a landing could occur at that particular point, they were at the floor. And in my opinion, the instructor believed they could not. And this is important; a missed approach should have been executed, discuss the issues and try again.
Trying to recover and land from an unstabliized approach is something they both learned not to do.
The instructor asked the student if he thought they would make the runway because the student was on a normal ground track on base instead of flying more directly to the runway and had lowered the flaps too soon. It is perfectly normal for the CFI to ask questions that will help the student better understand why something is not working and what steps are needed for correction. In a real emergency, things may get really out of sequence but the objective is still to recover to the extent possible, so that is what should also be demonstrated in training in a safe manner of course. At that point on base, from what the instructor reported, the runway was still reachable if the flight path were corrected to a more direct path to the runway and the flaps raised. Their speed was still close to best glide. I know that raising the flaps is going to get a reaction from many, but this is a scenario I demonstrate to every student before solo because it is an easy correction but none are going to realize it is even an option without seeing it for themselves. At that speed raising the flaps is not going to lose one inch of altitude if you adjust the pitch properly as the flaps retract. Once they passed this point, as the report says, there were several unexpected actions and delays on the student’s part, but the CFI, as sometimes happens, apparently waited too long to abort the procedure and recover.
Foolish process for the CFI to allow use of flaps untill the aircraft can absolutely make the intended landing spot. I teach my students to use the flaps only when the landing can be accomplished. If the aircraft is a little high, perform a slip. I have been instructing for over 40 years and no one has bent an aircraft. Rule #1,
always fly the proper glide speed to conserve altitude
Excellent and proper aerodynamic practice. from a 10K+ CFII. BUT, that is not what is being taught. “Stabilize the approach and use power to make your corrections” is what is being promoted today, and it does work. BUT, in the case of an actual emergency, very bad training. The FAA, however, has decided that day-to-day safety is more important than the occasional emergency crash. ———————-None of my students have been taught this, they never would be, except as a different technique which they can use as they see fit, after they know the basics.
In the last 50 years, three of them have come back and told me their families are alive today because of my emergency training.
Those three families are REAL important to me. The FAA would have “allowed them to die” as part of the statistical whole.
Using the engine on landing approaches allows far more control so it should be taught. Pilots can choose to use an aiming point deeper into the runway to keep the base close so they can still reach the runway with an engine failure at low altitude but maintain the advantages of the power-on approach. Like you say, they can choose.
“always fly the proper glide speed to conserve altitude”. In some cases, the pilot may choose to conserve altitude and stay at best glide until a high overhead is established – then spiral down relatively close to the runway. Flaps may make the spiral easier to manage. If you have the altitude and can descend with flaps or slips or even both in such a way that you safely reach the runway, you have retained an important option – resumption of a clean max glide configuration to increase gliding distance in case a misjudgement is made, like too wide a base leg. If that happens with the flaps up, the runway will not be made. I.e. if you practice a power off landing from abeam the numbers, do it with flaps or slips or both, keeping close enough to make the runway. If you encounter an unexpected headwind component, resuming a clean max glide speed is like having some thrust in reserve.
These power out simulations should only be done on a simulator before trying it in the real world. This student was clearly overloaded and was asked to do something beyond their knowledge and training leading to the panic and crash.
I BASICALLY agree, because as we all know, the plane is an absolutely LOUSY place to learn anything. There is just too much going on. The plane SHOULD BE used to practice what you already know, but———that isn’t the way training is commonly done.