Cessna 172M N13394 accident near Leesburg, Florida

Probable cause

The flight instructor’s delayed remedial action and his subsequent loss of directional control during landing on a wet runway for reasons that could not be determined because postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies.

NTSB analysis

The flight instructor and student pilot were conducting practice touch-and-go takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. The instructor stated that the runway was wet from rain earlier in the day. During the fifth landing, the student landed the airplane right of the runway centerline. The flight instructor described the landing as "soft" and "slow." The student applied left rudder to steer the airplane back toward the centerline, but the airplane continued to drift left. The flight instructor stated that he took the flight controls, applied left rudder, and then applied left brake, but the airplane "did not respond." The airplane subsequently ran off the left side of the runway, impacted a sign, and came to rest upright about 250 ft past the runway edge. The left main landing gear collapsed, and the firewall sustained substantial damage. Postaccident examination of the landing gear, wheels, brakes, rudder controls, and nosewheel steering revealed no anomalies.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA14LA448 for the full record.