MCGAHEYSVILLE, VA, USA
N60648
CESSNA 150
THE STUDENT PILOT WAS PREFORMING A SIMULATED FORCED LANDING. THE CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR STATED THAT DURING THE APPROACH IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE TOUCHDOWN POINT WOULD BE TOO LONG FOR THE 1900 FOOT RUNWAY. HE ALSO STATED THAT HE DID NOT ADD POWER TO START A GO-AROUND IN A 'TIMELY MANNER,' AND THEY WERE TOO LOW TO MISS THE HIGHER TERRAIN AT THE END OF THE FIELD. HE MANAGED TO MANEUVER AROUND A HOUSE AND FENCE AND LANDED BETWEEN TREES.
On Wednesday, August 18, 1993, at 1800 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150, N60648, registered to and piloted by Donald L. Dofflemyer, sustained substantial damage when it impacted trees in McGaheysville, Virginia. The pilot and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR 91. This was a training flight for the student pilot. The Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) simulated an engine failure, and the student was conducting a forced landing. The CFI stated: It was obvious that we were too high. I waited until about mid-field and applied full power. At this point, carb heat off and full flaps, the plane was tending to lose altitude. It was as though the engine wasn't developing full power...we were...too low to get over the...hill...we were able to land between two trees. Mr. Jim Jacobsen, Aviation Safety Inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted an examination of the wreckage and interviewed the Certified Flight Instructor. In his report, Mr. Jacobsen stated: I met with the pilot/CFI who took me to the site. He explained that the seventeen year old student was given a simulated engine out forced landing. ...At about two to three hundred feet it became apparent that he was going [to be long]. The instructor said to me that he failed to add power in a timely fashion....The landing...terrain continues to rise from one end to the other, which may have caused him to feel secure...but as he explained, he waited too long to add power, while facing rising terrain.
THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION RESULTING IN A DELAYED GO-AROUND.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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