Diamond DA20 N979DA accident near Pueblo, Colorado

Probable cause

The student pilot's failure to maintain the runway heading during an attempted aborted landing, which resulted in a runway excursion onto rough terrain.

NTSB analysis

The student pilot reported that, after being endorsed for his first solo flight, he conducted three approaches and landings. During the third approach, the airplane's nose yawed right, and he applied left rudder to correct but was unsuccessful. When the airplane was about 15 ft above ground level, the student aborted the landing and applied full engine power, but the airplane continued to descend while yawing right. The airplane landed on the runway with the nose oriented right of the runway heading, exited the runway, encountered rough terrain, and then stopped. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the tail and empennage. The student reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for GAA19CA490 for the full record.