Cessna 172 N6353E accident near Palmer, Alaska

Probable cause

The student pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during a steep climbing turn following a touch-and-go landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at too low of an altitude to recover.

NTSB analysis

The student pilot was flying the airplane over a remote river valley as his friends and relatives were driving their all-terrain vehicles in the valley. The pilot executed a touch-and-go landing on a gravel bar, and, just after takeoff, the airplane entered a steep climb and turned to the left. During the left turn, the wings of the airplane rolled perpendicular to the ground, and it descended in a near-vertical, nose-down attitude to ground impact. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The flight profile was consistent with the pilot exceeding the airplane's critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control at an altitude too low to allow for recovery.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ANC17FA003 for the full record.