Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Greeley-Weld County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Greeley, Colorado 80631
Wednesday, July 31, 2002 16:59 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot and flight instructor were departing for his third flight lesson; the density altitude was calculated to be 8,393 feet. The flight instructor said that the student began to level the airplane 5 to 10 seconds after liftoff. He said that he took hold of the yoke and assisted the student in adjusting the airplane's pitch to resume the departure climb, and then gave full aircraft control back to the student. The instructor said that he looked out of the airplane to see if there were any airplanes landing on the cross runway. Suddenly, and without warning, the flight controls went to the full forward position and the plane began to dive directly towards the runway. He said he grabbed the control yoke, but could not arrest the descent before the airplane impacted the runaway. The student pilot was taking a non-approved for flight, prescription medication.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the student pilot's improper handling of the airplane's controls (for reason undetermined), and the inadequate supervision of the flight instructor. A contributing factor was the high density altitude weather condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/31/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1659 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Greeley |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80631 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 402609N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1043755W |
| Event Location Airport | Greeley-Weld County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GXY |
| 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 | 4697 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1645 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GXY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4697 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 37 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8393 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13953 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 31 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2003 9:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, CO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7383G |
| NTSB Number | DEN02FA084 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17259083 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 94 |
| Airframe Hours | 7740 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Light Plane Rentals |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 601 Crosier Ave |
| Aircraft Owner City | Greeley |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80631 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Harris Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 625 Airport Road |
| Operator City | Greeley |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80631 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GXY |
| Departure City | Greeley |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1659 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 14 2003 12:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 6200 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |