At approximately 1355 central daylight time, a Cessna 172M single engine airplane,
was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground east of runway 17 following a loss of
control while landing at Jones Memorial Airport (3F7), near Bristow, Oklahoma. The private pilot
and pilot-rated passenger sustained serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The flight departed Branson, Missouri, approximately 1200, with a planned destination to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The 1,111-hour pilot occupied the right seat, and the 243-hour pilot-rated passenger occupied the
left seat. While en route, the pilot decided to permit the pilot-rated passenger to practice
touch-and-go landings on runway 17 (3,400 feet long and 45 feet wide) at the Jones Memorial
Airport.
According to the pilot, during the first landing, the pilot-rated passenger flared high
and the airplane bounced twice. On the second bounce, as the airplane veered across the runway,
the pilot announced that he was taking over the controls of the airplane to initiate a go-around.
When initiating the go-around procedure, the pilot turned the airplane left, applied full power,
and lifted the flap selector lever intending to take out 10 degrees of flaps of the 40 degrees that
were set for landing. The airplane drifted left of the runway and descended until the right wing
tip struck the ground. The pilot then made a correction to the left, but the airplane stalled and
pivoted nearly 180 degrees before coming to rest approximately 100 yards east of the runway.
The reported wind was from 120 at 7 to 10 knots. The pilot stated that he accidently took out more than 10 degrees of flaps.
Thankfully both pilots were able to walk away, but this brings us to one lesson we seldom work on let alone perfect.
I remember during my training go-arounds were my least favorite thing to do. I worked so hard to set up the perfect approach, full flaps, speed just right, “go around” my instructor would say. “WHY!” I would ask? I just wanted to practice landings.
I know I’m not the only person who had this mind set, go-arounds aren’t fun to practice. But proper go-around training could have greatly helped these two pilots in their predicament.
The problem with this accident is lack of procedure. Each and every maneuver in flying has a procedure, it’s your job as the pilot to know it and practice it. We know that when you take away flaps you take away lift. The sudden retraction of the flaps during the pilots go-around caused them to impact the ground.
A proper go around procedure should look something like this:
-Full Power (Carb heat off if applicable)
-Flaps 1 notch out (this typically takes you to 20 degrees)
-Through Vy and obstacles cleared flaps to 10
-Positive rate of climb (depicted on both VSI and altimeter) flaps out
Now this is just a basic guideline I use with students, verify each and every procedure with you instructor or consult your POH for more details.
Jason’s Verdict: The pilots sudden retraction of the flaps caused such a loss of lift that no amount of power could have helped at such a slow airspeed. The pilots left turn he initiated also decreased his horizontal component of lift, which brought him closer to his critical angle of attack where the end result was a stall followed by impact with the ground. Proper go-around procedure would have allowed this pilot to maintain his lift and execute his go-around properly.
It sounds like the pilot knew the procedure, but performed it improperly when it came time to use it. What do you think this pilot could have done to prevent this situation?
