Event ERA11CA329

Factual narrative

The accident flight was the student pilot's first solo flight. The certificated flight instructor conducted several landings with the student prior to the solo portion of the flight. During the solo portion, the student pilot took off without incident and entered the traffic pattern. While on final as the student got close to the ground, the aircraft encountered a gust which pushed the aircraft to the left. The student pilot stated that he used right aileron to correct for wind angle but was unable to stop the drift. The airplane touched down to the left of the runway and then became airborne a second time. The student pilot then stated that he attempted to land on an adjacent taxiway where the propeller struck a taxiway sign and the left wing impacted a hangar. A post accident examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the airplane had incurred substantial damage to the left wing and firewall. There was no evidence of any pre-impact failure or malfunction of the airplane or engine. The accident flight was the student pilot's first solo flight. The certified flight instructor conducted several landings with the student prior to the solo portion of the flight. During the solo, the student pilot took off without incident and entered the traffic pattern. While on final approach to land, as the student got close to the ground, the aircraft encountered a wind gust that pushed the aircraft to the left. The student pilot stated that he used right aileron to correct for the wind but was unable to stop the drift. The airplane touched down to the left of the runway and then became airborne again. The student pilot then attempted to land on an adjacent taxiway, where the propeller struck a taxiway sign and the left wing impacted a hangar. A postaccident examination revealed that the airplane had incurred substantial damage to the left wing and firewall. There was no evidence of any preimpact failure or malfunction of the airplane or engine. 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).

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