The student pilot reported that upon engine start-up for a local solo flight, the Cessna 172 “almost immediately pivoted to the left.”
The airplane hit two support beams of the shade hangar it was parked under at the airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, substantially damaging the left wing.
The pilot reported that the parking brake was set when the engine was started and that his feet were on the brakes.
A witness reported that the airplane “started up with what sounded like an excessively high RPM.”
Post-accident inspection of the throttle, toe brake, and parking brake system by an FAA inspector found no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s loss of directional control during engine start.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This December 2022 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.
In many of these reports, I find that the conclusions reached by the NTSB fail to identify the root cause.
In this case, it was surely not loss of directional control but excessive opening of the throttle which led to the accident.
I’m guessing the plane overcame the parking brake and lurched forward unexpectedly, and the pilot failed to react in time to miss the stanchions, so which came first, the chicken or the egg..? If the throttle had not been opened too far, there would have been no need to take avoiding action, so the question of loss of directional control would not have arisen.
If these reports are to be of any use to the readers in avoiding similar situations, they should identify what we must avoid doing in order not to have the same accident, and in this case the answer is to ensure that the throttle opening on start up is set appropriately.
Well, I’m no longer the Lone Stranger. I have stopped posting that this [what ever situation that did not involve 135 or higher] was an NTSB rubber stamp. Mostly they use the rubber stamp of pilot error for GA and move on.
If the parking brake can’t hold the plane in place, seems to me something went wrong with the *100 hour inspection* process. If the pilot only has one leg, and a SODA, and they can’t set the brakes so they can do the run up, mag check, etc., then there is a mechanical problem that needs fixed.
That the pilot had the throttle set too high is a “contributing factor” not the principle cause (proximate?).
[SODA is not a drink, it stands for Statement of Demonstrated Ability]
The student’s post-incident suggestions are right on point: pull aircraft out from shade hangar, check the throttle tension knob to ensure the throttle doesn’t inadvertently move forward, and don’t rely on the parking brake to prevent aircraft movement. With that said, the student shouldn’t have had to learn that for himself.
When I was first learning back in 1972, my instructor emphasized on start up to keep my hand on the throttle, and to pull it to idle as soon as the engine started. That pretty much eliminates situations like happened here.
I commonly see students twice abusing engines:
They open the throttle far too much during start (many probably start their cars that way, too) causing excessive starting rpm, and
they slam the throttle to the firewall during takeoff.
Do it often enough and something is sure to break.
I have been away from general aviation for some time my last flight on a GA airplane was in 1970 I retired on the B747 on 2013
Now my grand son is taking flight training and have me reading this publication religiously and I really enjoy it
The comments some times are very negative but most are constructive
Keep up the good work