La Belle Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

La Belle, Florida 33935
Sunday, October 16, 2005 13:25 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The student pilot was making a solo cross country flight. Witnesses observed the airplane on the initial takeoff climb after a touch and go landing. One witness reported that from an estimated altitude of 150 feet, the airplane stalled, drifted to the left, and impacted the ground. Another witness reported that when he initially saw the airplane, it was at an altitude of about 350 feet and appeared normal. He diverted his attention momentarily, looked back and saw the airplane in a nose-low attitude. The airplane completed 3 to 3.5 turns of a spin before he lost sight of it. Examination of the accident site revealed that the airplane impacted the ground in a near vertical attitude. The wing flaps were found extended to the full down or 30 degree position. Examination of the flap selector/indicator assembly revealed impact marks indicating that the flap selector handle was positioned at about the 10 degree position and the flap indicator position was near 30 degrees. The student pilot's flight instructor reported that five days before the accident, he had encountered a discrepancy with the airplane where the flaps would not retract from a 20 degree down position. The flight instructor stated that he "moved the flap lever to retract the flaps, and the flaps and the flaps position indicator did not move." He further stated that he "reset the flap lever to the original position and tired again. This time the flaps and flaps position indicator moved normally." The flight instructor did not report the discrepancy to maintenance personnel. The airplane was flown 10 times between this flight and the accident flight with no reported duplications of this discrepancy.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The student pilot's failure to maintain airspeed during the initial takeoff climb, resulting in an inadvertent stall/spin and uncontrolled descent to ground impact. A contributing factor was the failure of the wing flap control, which resulted in the flaps being stuck in the full down position.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/16/2005
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1325
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City La Belle
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 33935
Event Date Year 2005
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 264439N
Event Location Longitude 0812559W
Event Location Airport La Belle Municipal
Event Location Nearest Airport ID X14
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 1
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 18
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1253 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 225
Weather Observation Facility ID KRSW
Elevation of weather observation facility 30
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 22
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
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) 30
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 14
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator Variable
Wind Speed (knots) 6
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.91
Density Altitude (feet) --
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 --
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 22321
NTSB Notification Source FAA Comm Center
NTSB Notification Date Oct 16 2005 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Sep 27 2007 11:30AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N99173
NTSB Number MIA06FA007
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model 172P
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 17276415
Certified Max Gross Weight 2400
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
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 Sep 1 2005 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 66
Airframe Hours 9713
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated --
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Christiansen Aviation Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 1812 Marsh Rd. Ste 6 PMB 202
Aircraft Owner City Wilmington
Aircraft Owner State DE
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 19810
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Ari Ben Aviator
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 3800 St. Lucie Boulevard
Operator City Fort Pierce
Operator State FL
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 34946
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 KFPR
Departure City Fort Pierce
Departure State FL
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1227
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code X14
Destination City La Belle
Destination State FL
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Takeoff - initial climb
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Sep 18 2007 12:23PM
User who most recently changed record KENJ
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 32
Runway Length 3410
Runway Width 50
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --