Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sarasota/Bradenton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sarasota, Florida 34243
Sunday, November 11, 2001 10:51 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot stated she encountered an autopilot trim failure on initial takeoff climb. She attempted to disconnected the autopilot with the autopilot disconnect red button on the control yoke with negative results. She stated she had not received any training on the autopilot system by the operator. Review of her training records supported her statement. Title 14 CFR Part 91.9 requires the pilot to comply with the operating limitations in the airplane flight manual. The airplane flight manual for the Cessna 172S requires the pilot to commit to memory the four step procedure for autopilot, autopilot trim, or electric trim malfunction. The student pilot did not comply with the written instruction in the flight manual and experienced a loss of aircraft control on landing (porpoise on runway) resulting in a hard landing on the nose gear. Examination of the autopilot before removal from the airplane and at the factory revealed no abnormalities were noted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The operators failure to ensure adequate training had been provided to the student pilot in autopilot operations, and the student pilot's failure to comply/ follow written instructions (Federal Regulations/172 Skyhawk Information Manual) pertaining to the failure of the autopilot, autopilot trim, or manual electric trim malfunction. This resulted in a reported failure of the autopilot trim to disconnect on initial takeoff for undetermined reasons, loss of aircraft control on landing (porpoise), and subsequent hard landing on the nose gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/11/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1051 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Sarasota |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 34243 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 272350N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0823325W |
| Event Location Airport | Sarasota/Bradenton |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SRQ |
| 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 | 27 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1055 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SRQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 27 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.17 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1000 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13047 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communications Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 29 2003 4:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Tampa FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N24485 |
| NTSB Number | ATL02LA013 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172S8943 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 9 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 100 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Eagle Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8191 Tamiami Trail |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sarasota |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34243 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | SRQ |
| Departure City | Sarasota |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1048 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2002 8:38AM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 7003 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |