Cessna 172S N35585 accident near Clarksville, Tennessee

Probable cause

The flight instructor’s inadequate remedial action during takeoff, which resulted in a runway excursion.

NTSB analysis

The instructor stated that this was the first flight for the student pilot. He and the student pilot were at the controls of the airplane during the takeoff roll when the airplane veered to the left. The flight instructor announced that he had control of the airplane, attempted to apply right rudder to correct the movement, however the airplane continued toward a ditch off the side of the runway. He decided to add full power to try and take off to avoid the ditch, but the airplane struck a runway light, which resulted in the left wingtip impacting the grass. The airplane settled back onto the ground, the nose gear separated, and it came to rest in a wings level nose low attitude. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the engine mount. The pilot reported that the airplane had no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA21LA314 for the full record.