CEN26LA092 · Cessna 172 N

The flight instructor was going to demonstrate to the pilot receiving instruction, a short-field takeoff, with a simulated loss of engine power, as required per the flight school lesson plan. The flight instructor reported that he configured the airplane for the takeoff. Once the airplane had climbed to about 100 ft agl, he reduced the engine power to idle and began the descent back to the runway. The flight instructor noticed that the flight controls “seemed heavy” and the airplane was “descending fast.” The airplane landed hard on the runway and came to rest upright. The airplane taxied to the ramp without further incident, the airplane was shut down, and both occupants departed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane found the elevator trim was set to the full nose down position for the takeoff. The operator reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation. The operator further reported that the accident could have been prevented if the flight instructor had adhered to the published maneuver procedure and profile, for the maneuver that was being demonstrated. The airplane’s before takeoff checklist includes a step to configure the elevator trim for the takeoff. The FAA Aviation Instructor’s Handbook FAA-8083-9B discusses checklists and states in part: Checklists are essential flight deck resources for verifying that the aircraft instruments and systems are checked, set, and operating properly, as well as ensuring that the proper procedures are performed if there is a system malfunction or inflight emergency.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset