Cessna 172 accident near Newport News, VA
On October 6, 2022, a Cessna 172 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Newport News, VA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- October 6, 2022
- Place
- Newport News, VA
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 2 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 37.132°N, 76.493°W
- NTSB ID
- 20221006106080
Official records · ERA23FA008
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On October 6, 2022, at 1507 eastern daylight time, N97883, a Cessna 172, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain on takeoff from the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport (PHF), Newport News, Virginia. The flight instructor was fatally injured, and the student pilot and the pilot-rated passenger were seriously injured. The flight was being conducted as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. A review of airport surveillance video revealed that after the airplane departed runway 20, it entered a steep, nose-high pitch attitude and climbed to an altitude of about 50-100 ft above the runway before the left-wing dropped rapidly. The airplane then entered a descending left turn before it impacted terrain west of the runway. A witness, who was a flight instructor, was taxiing south on taxiway Alpha when he observed the accident airplane in a nose-high pitch attitude (about 30° nose up) on takeoff. He said the airplane reached a height of about 200 ft above the ground when the left wing “stalled” and dropped. The witness thought the instructor of the accident airplane tried to recover from the stall because the airplane’s wings leveled out momentarily before the left wing dropped again, and the airplane hit the ground on its belly. The witness described what he observed as a “power on stall.” The pilot-rated passenger onboard the accident airplane, who was seated behind the student pilot in the rear left seat, knew the student pilot from school. The student pilot had asked him to go on the flight because he was ne
Probable cause
The flight instructor’s failure to monitor the student pilot on takeoff and her delayed remedial action to stop him from exceeding the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in a low altitude aerodynamic stall from which she was unable to recover.
More accidents in VA
- Boeing 757-200, Sep 11, 2001
- Beech B99, Sep 23, 1985
- Beech 65, Sep 10, 1995
- Beech 200, Oct 24, 2004
- Piper PA-31-310, Nov 14, 1982
Browse: Virginia · 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.
