Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Montgomery County Airpark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879
Saturday, December 1, 2007 14:45 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 12-hour student pilot and the certificated flight instructor (CFI) were conducting their first flight together. The student had completed one takeoff, traffic pattern circuit, and landing, and initiated another takeoff in response to the CFI's instruction. After lift off, the airplane began to veer to the left, and despite verbal commands by the CFI, the drift and turn continued. The CFI then tried to physically intervene on the flight controls, but was initially resisted by the student. The CFI recognized that they could not avoid a treeline located 80 feet from the runway edge, so he leveled the wings and attempted to shut down the engine. The airplane impacted the trees approximately 10 feet above ground level. Subsequent to the accident, the CFI stated that he normally emphasized transfer of control in the preflight briefing, but he did not discuss that with this student. The surface weather observation reported winds of 5 knots. The accident was the fifth one in 24 years that involved the same treeline. While the treeline was coincident with the runway proximity limit specified in the advisory circular for airport design, the airport's 2002 improvement plan prescribed an increase in the distance between the treeline and the runway edge. As of July 2009, the treeline had not been relocated.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during an attempted touch-and-go. Contributing to the accident was the instructor's delay in taking remedial action, and the presence of trees in proximity to the side of the runway.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/1/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Gaithersburg |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20879 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391006N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0770954W |
| Event Location Airport | Montgomery County Airpark |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GAI |
| 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 | 539 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1435 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GAI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 500 |
| 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 | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.47 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25981 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 1 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2010 4:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | BWI |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N259ER |
| NTSB Number | NYC08LA049 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17271298 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Oct 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 15362 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Washington Flying Club |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Washington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20008 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Washington Flying Club |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Washington |
| Operator State | DC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20008 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | GAI |
| Departure City | Gaithersburg |
| Departure State | MD |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | GAI |
| Destination City | Gaithersburg |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 15 2009 3:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 4202 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |