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MIA06CA134 · Cessna 172N

3 Sept 2006 · Pensacola, FL, United States

Ferguson Aviation Academy Cessna 172N · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

From Roscoe Field (K82J) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
MIA06CA134
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Cessna 172N

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N1210F
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Roscoe Field (K82J), Pensacola, FLTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Approach · VFR go-around
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight collision with object
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Tree(s)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Flaps, improper use of

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The instructor stated that he had been working with the student pilot that morning in preparation for the student's first solo flight. Upon completion of the dual instruction, he instructed the student to perform full stop landings. He was going to be in communication with the student with a hand held radio during the solo takeoffs and landings. He went to the approach end of runway 36 to observe the student. The first takeoff and landing were uneventful. During the second landing, on short final, it appeared the airplane was slightly high. The airplane then seemed to assume a flared attitude appropriate for landing but well above the runway. He heard power applied partially to slow the descent, followed by full power, consistent with initiating a go around. He did not observe the airplane climb in altitude, so he radioed the student for 20 degrees of flaps. About that time the student initiated a left turn, barely clearing trees on the west side of the runway. He was unable to radio better instructions as he observed the aircraft maintain 30-50 feet of altitude in the turn, then descend below the tree line, followed by an impact sound. The student pilot stated that he had been practicing takeoffs and landings with his flight instructor for about an hour and the instructor felt that he was ready to conduct his first solo takeoffs and landings. The instructor made the proper endorsement in his pilot's logbook before permitting him to go solo. His first takeoff and landing were uneventful. During the second landing, he felt the airplane was too high and fast. He applied full engine power and attempted to turn left with 40 degrees of flaps. He heard his instructor on the airport's Unicom frequency, telling him to select 20 degrees of flaps. He attempted to select 20 degrees of flaps; however he saw the trees in front of him. The airplane impacted the top of the tree before coming to a stop on the ground. The student pilot stated there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions to the airplane or any of its systems prior to the accident.

Probable cause

The student pilot's failure to raise the wing flaps for a go-around resulting in the airplane not climbing and an in-flight collision with trees.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA06CA134
Event ID
20060929X01427
Case number
MIA06CA134
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: b50e2aa44a2a9b78a7af1a25d9c4d6ddb74dc9cbb39aa4fd577cb0926d82a460; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:41:20.626Z.