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Atlas / NTSB / MIA02LA117

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MIA02LA117

2002-06-22 Marietta, Georgia, United States Airport · RYY None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

the pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll, which resulted in the airplane departing the left side of the runway, impacting with a gully and nosing over.

Factual narrative

On June 22, 2002, about 0930 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N739PF, registered to and operated by Atlanta Northside Aviation Inc., nosed over during landing, at the Cobb County/McCollum Field Airport, Marietta, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 training flight. The airplane was substantially damaged. The student pilot reported no injuries. The flight had originated from the same airport, at 0920. The student pilot said he was on a solo flight practicing touch-and-go landings. After landing on runway 9, he initiated the takeoff sequence by retracting the flaps, and shutting off the carburetor heat. He then added "full power" to the airplane's engine. The airplane's nose "veered left," he applied right rudder to correct, but the airplane "kept moving left." The student pilot said he applied brakes in an attempt to control the airplane, and "pulled the throttle back," before the airplane departed the "left" side of the runway. After the airplane departed the runway it entered the grassy area along side of the runway, struck a gully, and nosed over. No mechanical discrepancies were reported or found with the airframe or engine. The student pilot said he was practicing touch-and-go landings, and after landing he added "full power" to the airplane's engine. The airplane's nose veered left, he attempted to control the airplane with right rudder, brakes, and retarded the throttle, before the airplane departed the left side of the runway. After the airplane departed the runway it entered the grassy area along side of the runway, struck a gully, and nosed over. No mechanical discrepancies were reported or found with the airframe or engine. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2002_MIA02LA117.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗