Event CEN25LA324

Factual narrative

The student pilot stated for the preparation for his initial solo flight, he successfully completed three takeoffs and landings with his flight instructor at the airport that was planned to be used for the solo flight. During the solo flight, the student pilot completed two full stop landings without any issues prior to attempting a third takeoff and landing. The student pilot stated that during the third attempt, the airplane crossed the runway threshold about 82 to 84 kts with full wing flaps. When the airplane crossed over the runway numbers, he reduced the engine power to idle, and the airplane entered a normal float but began to drift left. He tried to arrest the drift with rudder application, but he could not maintain the runway centerline. The student pilot added engine power to execute a go-around but could not stop the airplane’s left drift. The airplane impacted the ground in a left wing and nose down attitude, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing, the engine firewall, and the rudder. The student pilot stated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the airplane that would have precluded normal airplane operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

• — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot
• — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained