This July 2008 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Aircraft: Cessna 172. Injuries: None. Location: Edgewater, Md. Aircraft damage: Substantial.
What reportedly happened: The pilot departed on a cross-country flight. He had flown Cessnas before but had not flown one with a cruise propeller and was not aware that the engine rpm would be less than he was used to. During cruise flight the engine tachometer showed 2,400 rpm. The pilot was expecting to see 2,600 rpm so he elected to return to the departure airport to make a precautionary landing. The pilot performed three missed approaches to the 2,500-foot-long, asphalt runway, due to high approach speeds. On the fourth landing attempt, the airplane again approached at a high speed, and the pilot attempted to bleed-off airspeed during the flare. The airplane touched down at a higher rate of speed than normal, bounced, and then settled on the runway. The pilot was not able to stop the plane before he ran out of runway. The airplane came to a stop after going through a fence.
Probable cause: The pilot’s misjudged distance/speed during landing.
For more information: NTSB.gov
The NTSB report I have just read, (July 2008, Edgewater, Md.) demonstrates yet again another “classic example” of “inadequate flight instruction”! This further “highlights” the “complete incompetence” of governmental agencies, whose “sole purpose” it is to “ensure” a “high measure of safety” to the air transportation industry in this country, but doesn’t. The “gross incompetence” of those at NTSB who “arrived” at the “probable cause” of such accidents, like the one above, is glaring! The fact that most all of the reports that I have read in the past few years, all indicates “exceedingly poor flight instruction” as the “principle cause” in the vast majority of aircraft crashes and speaks poorly of the FAA and it’s certification of Flight Instructors!
The question I keep asking myself, as I read these “grossly inaccurate and skewed” reports is: “Are these people paid with taxpayer dollars to write this ignorant drivel and who is it that is certifying this nations Flight Instructors?” It is abundantly clear after reading a few of these “accident reports”, that those who do this in the name of the NTSB “haven’t a clue” when it comes to matters of aviation! I thought the NTSB report of the Buffalo crash of Colgan Air 3407, was “clearly out in left field”, but now I see “a definite pattern of gross ignorance”, that is now impossible to overlook! The only analogy I can now draw from this is: “Promote an idiot to a high position in government and that idiot will in turn appoint more of the same, to make judgement calls and decisions that effect and “put at risk” every air traveler in this nation!” It is way past time to “clean up” our aviation system and make it safe again! The only way that can be accomplished is to “accurately determine” the cause of the problem (crash in this case) and take the necessary steps to “take corrective measures. This cannot be accomplished if those so appointed, haven’t a clue what they’re doing or are attempting to “shift the blame” elsewhere, as in the Buffalo, N.Y., Montrose, Co. and Lexington, Ky. crashes! (They cannot be considered accidents, as they were “caused to happen”)