Cessna 172 N64055 accident near Broomfield, Colorado

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane, resulting in an inadvertent stall, during a landing attempt. Contributing to the accident was the gusty crosswinds.

NTSB analysis

After making three touch-and-go landings in "choppy" weather at a nearby airport, the pilot returned to her home airport and was cleared to land on runway 29R. She thought the wind was "well within [her] ability level." On base leg, tower changed the landing runway to 29L. She thought the wind was "acceptable...even with the crosswind component," and she did not request a crosswind runway. She "crabbed" the airplane into the gusty crosswind and the airplane was blown to the left of, and "almost perpendicular to," the runway. As the airplane entered ground effect and was over the grass, the pilot added power "in an attempt to get enough altitude and speed to bring the airplane back over the runway." When the pilot realized this was futile, the pilot added full power in a go-around attempt. The airplane stalled and struck the ground. The pilot stated, "I remember trying to force the nose down and I couldn't get it down quickly enough. I got higher off the ground...I think parallel to the runway, then [the air]plane pulled to the left even with holding right rudder, tipped over left and seemed to bounce off the ground and then hit the ground facing south." The recorded wind at the airport was from 300 degrees at 12 knots. No gusts were reported.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN09LA035 for the full record.