Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tappahanock Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tappahanock, Virginia 22560
Friday, May 12, 1995 17:25 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE STUDENT PILOT WAS ON A SOLO CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT. ON THE FIRST LEG OF THE FLIGHT FROM ANDREWS AFB, MD, TO FARMVILLE, VA, SHE BECAME LOST AND LANDED AT CREWE AIRPORT, ABOUT 20 MILES FROM FARMVILLE. AFTER DETERMINING HER LOCATION, SHE CALLED HER FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI), AND THEY AGREED FOR HER TO CONTINUE THE FLIGHT. ON THE LAST LEG OF THE FLIGHT, FROM PORTSMOUTH, VA, BACK TO ANDREWS AFB, THE STUDENT BECAME LOST AGAIN. SHE CONTACTED RICHMOND ATCT AND REQUESTED FLIGHT FOLLOWING BACK TO ANDREWS AFB. SHE WAS ASKED TO SQUAWK A TRANSPONDER CODE; HOWEVER, SHE DID NOT RESPOND, AND RADIO COMMUNICATION WITH THE STUDENT WAS LOST. SHE ELECTED TO LAND AT A NEARBY AIRPORT. DURING THE LANDING, THE AIRPLANE TOUCHED DOWN AT THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. IT CONTINUED BEYOND THE END OF THE RUNWAY AND COLLIDED WITH A FENCE AND FENCE POST. THERE HAD BEEN SEVERAL BREAKS IN THE STUDENT'S FLIGHT TRAINING, DUE TO HER WORK SCHEDULE AND AN EXTENDED TDY. ACCORDING TO HER LOG BOOK, HER INSTRUCTOR HAD SIGNED HER OFF FOR A CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT ON 3/18/95, 25 DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. DURING THAT 25 DAYS, THE STUDENT FLEW 0.9 HOURS SOLO ON 3/18/95 AND RECEIVED 1.1 HOURS OF DUAL INSTRUCTION ON 4/29/95. AFTER THAT, SHE DID NOT FLY AGAIN UNTIL SHE DEPARTED ON THE SOLO CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT. SHE HAD 62.8 HOURS TOTAL FLIGHT TIME, INCLUDING 21.5 HOURS OF SOLO FLIGHT TIME.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's misjudgment of distance/speed during the approach to land, and her failure to go around while there was still sufficient runway remaining. Factors related to the accident were: inadequate supervision by the flight instructor, the student's lack of recent flying experience, and the student pilot becaming lost or disoriented during the solo cross-country flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/12/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1725 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | TAPPAHANOCK |
| Event State | VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 22560 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TAPPAHANOCK MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | W79 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 31 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1669 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 12 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5238F |
| NTSB Number | BFO95FA050 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17253311 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 17 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 10484 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | UNITED STATES AIR FORCE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | USAF, 89 SPTG MWBA |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANDREWS AFB |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20331 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ANDREWS AERO CLUB |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PVG |
| Departure City | PORTSMOUTH |
| Departure State | VA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ADW |
| Destination City | ANDREWS AFB |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 2785 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |