The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute (ASI) has released a new video from its Early Analysis series providing an initial examination of a recent tragic training accident.
On Oct. 6, 2022, a Cessna 172 crashed during a training flight at the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport (KPHF) in Newport News, Virginia. No one on the ground was injured, however, the CFI died in the accident. A student pilot and another student onboard the Cessna were taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
At 100 feet — about 80 seconds into the takeoff from Runway 20 — the 172 reportedly pitched up aggressively, lost lift, and crashed 200 feet from the departure end.
“In general aviation, we experience about 15 to 16 fatal training accidents per year,” said AOPA’s ASI Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden. “That’s a relatively small figure given the number of flight hours that we conduct safely. We fly some 6.5 million flight hours a year in training flights — that equates to more than 10 million operations, including takeoffs and landings in training scenarios.”
Early Analysis videos include important safety lessons for the general aviation community, officials said, noting this latest video offers flight instructors practical guidance to help prevent a similar scenario when giving flight instruction.
View the video here.
View other Early Analysis videos here.
There was an advisory for potential wake turbulence, that I expect the NTSB to consider as well. Anticipating potential wake turbulence is critical for instructors to teach their students. Recovering from an unexpected upset can easily lead to a deadly stall at low level.
The instructor failed to anticipate and overcome by physical force a trainees action. These things have been known since the beginning of aviation.