Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On July 31, 2002, at 1659 mountain daylight time, Cessna 172K, N7383G, was destroyed when it impacted runway 9 approximately 30 seconds after takeoff from Greeley-Weld County Airport, Greeley, Colorado. The flight instructor was seriously injured and the student pilot was fatally injured. Light Plane Rentals of Greeley, Colorado, was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local instructional flight which was originating at the time of the accident. The pilot had not filed a flight plan.

The flight instructor said he had flown with the student pilot on two previous occasions, for approximately 3.7 hours. He said that the student had "shown a good feel for the controls and was able to maintain altitude well." The flight instructor said, on the day of the accident, while doing the preflight inspection of the airplane, the student "seemed a bit confused momentarily, having departed from the checklist to borrow the [fuel] strainer, but then he got back in step and completed the remaining items without incident."

The flight instructor said that student performed the engine start up and he taxied to the end of the runway with no apparent difficulty. He said the student taxied onto the runway, advanced the throttle, and accelerated down the runway centerline. He said the student rotated the airplane at 60 mph (miles per hour; the correct speed without flaps), and performed a normal climb for 5-10 seconds, and then began to level off at about 50 feet. The flight instructor said the airspeed increased to above 80 mph. He said he took hold of the yoke and assisted the student in adjusting the airplane's pitch to resume the departure climb, and then gave full aircraft control back to the student.

The flight instructor said that he looked out of the airplane to see if there were any airplanes landing on final approach for runway 34. Suddenly, and without warning, he said "the controls went to the full forward position and we went into a dive directly over the runway at a height of about 100 feet." He said the dive was so steep, that the wind screen was "nothing but runway."

The flight instructor said he "immediately reached forward, grabbed the yoke and pulled it [the airplane] out of the dive." He said he simultaneously exclaimed, "what are you doing?" He said the student did not reply, but maintained his hold on the yoke and offered no resistance. The instructor said that the airplane was too close to the ground to fully recover, subsequently "we crashed into the runway." He said that after the airplane came to rest, "a fire started at the front of the cowling and quickly spread. I told the student to unbuckle his belt and slide his seat back, and simultaneously I unbuckled my own, but realized I had no response from my legs as I tried to move my seat. I dove out of the plane and landed on the ground. My legs were caught in the radio cord, and l