WPR22LA025 · Cessna R172K

The student pilot reported that, during final approach to land on a solo flight, the engine lost total power while the airplane was about 400 ft above ground level. The student pilot elected to conduct an off-airport landing on a street. During the landing roll, the right wing struck a street light pole, and the nose landing gear struck the street curb, resulting in substantial damage to the wing and fuselage undercarriage. The student pilot reported that, before the accident, the airplane had lost power on multiple occasions after the engine was warmed up and at idle. Maintenance had been performed to correct the issue and the airplane was signed off as airworthy with respect to the work performed and was approved to return to service; however, the power loss occurred at least once after the maintenance but before the accident. No maintenance entries were identified in the logbook to indicate that further maintenance was accomplished. The student pilot elected to operate the airplane on the day of the accident, even though the engine issue was not fully resolved. After the airplane was recovered, a mechanic ran the engine and reported that it ran smoothly for about 2 minutes. The mechanic also stated that magneto and mixture checks were “normal.” The mechanic performed the engine run and the magneto and mixture checks without government oversight. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel selector switch was jammed between the “both” and right tank positions likely due to the damage to the floor, which was deformed upward, during the accident sequence. The cause of the total loss of engine power could not be determined based on the available evidence for this investigation.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset