Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA 40 N482MA accident near Montgomery, New York

Probable cause

The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control on landing. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor's lack of total experience as an instructor and delayed corrective action.

NTSB analysis

The flight instructor (CFI), who had 4 total hours as a CFI at the time of the accident, was conducting an instructional flight with a student pilot. The student pilot made 3 touch-and-go landings to Runway 21. The surface winds at the airport were 200 degrees at 12 knots. The CFI stated that the student did not maintain airspeed, resulting in a sink rate on the previous approaches. He instructed the student to conduct a short field approach with an obstacle. The student conducted the before landing check, lowered the flaps to the first notch and turned on base. The student lowered flaps to the full down position, turned final, and continued the approach. The airplane descended to 25 feet over the runway when the airspeed decreased and the airplane entered a vertical rate of descent. The student pilot did not apply power. The CFI reached over to add power, missed the throttle, flared the airplane, and it collided with the runway hard, resulting in structural damage to the airframe. No mechanical problems were reported by the CFI.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA09CA299 for the full record.