you
it's early in the afternoon of June 21st
2013 at the Oakland County Airport and
Waterford Michigan a newly minted 19
year old private pilot is preparing to
take three family members for a ride in
an older 150 horsepower Cessna 172 it's
a typical summer day the temperature is
82 degrees skies are clear and winds are
light the aircraft's fuel tanks are only
half full but with all four seats filled
it's right on the brink of maximum gross
weight with his pre-flight inspection
complete the pilot starts the engine and
asks for a taxi clearance he's
instructed to taxi to runway Niner left
at intersection Mike from which point
there are 5,000 320 feet of runway
available shortly thereafter he's
cleared for takeoff in the control tower
ATC personnel watched the aircraft break
ground and climbed to approximately 100
feet AGL at the same time a pilot on
approach to land notices that the Cessna
is quote wallowing in the air and
doesn't appear to be climbing power to 6
Quebec will over way we're gonna have to
come back and land on that can you free
tonight alright then you can just bring
a wrecker and I know right so right
turns or on the glass is fine there's no
response from the pilot witnesses watch
in horror as the aircraft rolls to the
left and descends rapidly it impacts the
airport infield and quickly bursts into
flame there are no survivors
you
at a glance this accident sounds all too
familiar an inexperienced pilot a
modestly powered heavily loaded aircraft
and a warm summer day but there was more
going on here witnesses reported that
the aircraft's flaps were extended prior
to the crash this was confirmed by the
NTSB which found the flaps in the full
40 degree down position with a huge
amount of extra drag from the flaps the
aircraft would have struggled to climb
even without a full load of passengers
but why were the flaps extended to
answer that question we have to look at
the pilots flight experience it's not
clear how much time he'd accumulated in
Cessna 172s but it was no more than a
few hours the vast majority of his
experience was in the cirrus sr20 the
aircraft in which he turned his private
certificate during pre-flight standard
operating procedure in the Cirrus is to
lower the flaps and increments to 100%
then raise them to 50% for takeoff the
flaps which has detents for each
position placing the switch in a detent
causes the flaps to extend or retract to
the selected position in contrast
standard pre-flight in the Cessna does
not call for flap extension and normal
takeoffs are made with flaps retracted
in addition the Cessna has a
spring-loaded switch that must be held
up or down until the flaps reach the
desired position
we can't be certain but it seems likely
that the pilot with little experience in
the Cessna and possibly distracted by
the presence of family members
mistakenly used the Cirrus procedure and
lowered the flaps during pre-flight
later he either forgot to retract them
or forgot that he had to physically hold
the switch rather than simply placing it
in a detail either way it was a fatal
mistake and one that carries an
important lesson for transitioning
pilots even if a new aircraft is
fundamentally similar to what you're
used to
single-engine fixed gear fixed pitch
propeller etc there may still be
critical differences
in this case it was nothing more than a
checklist item and a difference in the
operation of a switch but it was enough
the first few hours after checkout in a
new type are critical this is the time
to be vigilant to double-check yourself
take your time and follow checklists to
the letter by definition it's a poor
time to carry non-pilot passengers had
the pilot in this accident taken his
time and gotten a few more hours in the
aircraft before giving his family a ride
he and they would almost certainly still
be alive today