Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On November 16, 2004, approximately 1245 mountain standard time, a Cessna 172P, N54165, piloted by a student pilot, was substantially damaged when it impacted a sign during the landing roll at Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL), Loveland, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The solo instructional flight was being conducted on a visual flight rules flight plan under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot reported no injuries. The cross-country flight originated in Colorado Springs, Colorado, approximately 1200 and the pilot had performed a touch and go landing at Jefferson County Airport (BJC), Broomfield, Colorado.

According to the accident report submitted by the student, he was landing on runway 33. The student stated that as he touched down, "the nose of the [air]plane was pointed to the right side of the runway" and his airspeed was high. He attempted to correct with rudder; however, the airplane departed the runway to the right, impacted an airport sign and continued across an adjacent taxiway. The left main landing gear collapsed inward, the rear horizontal spar was bent midspan, and two ribs in the left wing had 3 inch lacerations. A postaccident examination of the airplane's systems revealed no anomalies.

The FNL aviation routine weather (METAR) reported the winds at the time of the accident as 130 degrees at 8 knots. the student pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing and the student pilot's inadequate in-flight planning and decision making. Contributing factors include the quartering tail wind, the high airspeed, and the airport sign.