Cessna 172S N331ME accident near Stevensville, Maryland

Probable cause

The flight instructor's inadequate remedial action following the student pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing.

NTSB analysis

The certificated flight instructor and the student pilot were practicing crosswind takeoffs and landings with an 8 knot, 90-degree crosswind. During the second landing attempt, as the airplane crossed the runway threshold, the student reduced power "more abruptly" than he had on the previous landing. The airplane "bounced," and the flight instructor told the student to add power. The student then "took out the wind correction on the ailerons and tensed up." The flight instructor attempted to re-apply the left aileron control, and told the student "don't fight me." The student then added power while the flight instructor retracted the flaps 10 degrees, from the 20-degree setting. The flight instructor expected the student to increase the engine power to full for a go-around, as they had practiced in the previous lessons, but he did not and the airplane bounced a second time. The airplane was at the far right edge of the runway when the flight instructor assumed the flight controls and reduced the engine power to idle. The airplane continued off the right side of the runway, and onto a grass area, where it struck an embankment, and nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage, wing spar, and firewall.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for NYC08CA257 for the full record.