Cessna 150F N6561F accident near Zeeland, Michigan

Probable cause

The flight instructor’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during the go-around which led to the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and entering an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action and her failure to ensure that the student had relinquished control of the airplane during the go-around.

NTSB analysis

The flight instructor and student were conducting a primary instruction flight. The flight instructor reported that the student allowed the airplane to get low and slow during a landing approach. The flight instructor took control of the airplane, added full throttle for a go-around, and began to retract the flaps. The flight instructor recalled being unable to reduce airplane pitch and believed her student may have still been on the flight controls. The student reported that after the flight instructor took control of the airplane it got too slow and entered an aerodynamic stall. Airport surveillance video showed the airplane flying over the runway in a nose-high pitch attitude and yawed left when it descended and impacted the ground left wing first. The airplane then nosed over and came to rest inverted in the grass next to the runway. The airplane’s forward fuselage and vertical stabilizer were substantially damaged during the ground impact and subsequent nose over.

Neither the flight instructor nor the student reported any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. The flight instructor reported that the accident could have been prevented had she not been “overconfident” in the student’s ability to land the airplane, if she had ensured the student had relinquished control of the airplane when she began the go-around, and if she had been quicker to recognize the situation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN25LA147 for the full record.