Cessna 172P accident near Airville, PA
On September 22, 1997, a Cessna 172P (airplane) was involved in an accident near Airville, PA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 22, 1997
- Place
- Airville, PA
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172P · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 39.820°N, 76.389°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001208X08866
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On September 22, 1997, at 1130 eastern daylight time, N55221, a Cessna 172P, was destroyed when it descended into a corn field and collided with terrain near Airville, Pennsylvania. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed. The student pilot was fatally injured. The instructional flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated at Leesburg, Virginia, about 1030, destined for Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The pilot was on his first solo cross country flight, and this was the first leg. The flight proceeded uneventful for the first hour. He radioed Lancaster tower and reported that he was 10 miles southwest of the airport, and requested a vector to the airport. He said, "...my elevator controls are a little bit mushy, I don't think it's any big deal but I'd kinda like to get the plane on the ground". The air traffic controller told him to enter a right base for runway 8 or straight in. The pilot said he would make a straight in to runway 8. The controller said he asked the pilot to ident, and he saw three targets in the vicinity of ten miles, southwest of the airport. The controller said that when he did not see the ident on the radar screen, he provided a visual flight rules code, but there were no further radio transmissions from the pilot. A witness, walking up the hill near a corn field, said she heard an airplane, and when she looked up, she saw the airplane descending. She said it looked like a stunt plane, and she thought it would pull up, but it kept descending to the ground. According to t
Probable cause
The student pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in a stall/mush and subsequent collision with terrain.
More accidents in PA
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Browse: Pennsylvania · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
