NTSB Factual Report

On August 26, 2018, about 1610 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N1537U, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain at New Kent County Airport (W96) in Quinton, Virginia. The student pilot was seriously injured. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the solo cross-country instructional flight that departed from Chesapeake Regional Airport (CPK), Norfolk, Virginia, about 1510. The airplane was operated by Epix Aviation under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

According to the operator, this was the pilot's second flight of the day. He had previously flown the accident airplane with his flight instructor performing practice maneuvers. The accident flight was a solo cross country with an intended route of CPK-W96-CPK.

A witness located outside the main hangar at the W96 fixed base operator (FBO) heard the accident airplane's engine, looked up and saw the airplane in a steep left turn with the nose "about 40 degrees down". It then descended out of view behind the hangar, shortly thereafter he heard sounds of an impact. Based on his description, the airplane had apparently approached runway 29, however he did not see it perform a go-around, or a touch-and-go landing, prior to his observation of the steep left descending turn. By policy, the operator does not permit student pilots to perform touch-and-go landings on solo cross-country flights.

About 700 feet south of the runway centerline at midfield, the airplane struck a power line, impacted terrain and three different sections of fencing while crossing a road, before coming to rest nose down in the grass adjacent to the FBO parking lot. The path from the initial ground scars to the main wreckage site was 65 feet long and oriented along a heading of about 85° magnetic.

Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector revealed that all major components of the airplane were present at the accident site. The forward fuselage was crushed aft and remained in a 90-degree nose down attitude. The empennage was completely separated just aft of the rear window and folded downward relative to the fuselage with the tail resting on the ground. Both wings were substantially damaged and crushed aft and the left wing was partially separated near its root. An outboard section of left wing and aileron about 3 feet long was completely separated from the remainder of the wing.

Flight control continuity was established from the cockpit area to the control surfaces. The flaps were found in the retracted position and the elevator trim tab displaced about 1" trailing edge up (airplane nose down direction).

All engine controls (throttle, mixture, carburetor heat) were found in the full forward positions. The fuel selector was found in the "both" position. One propeller blade had leading edge gouge marks from about mid span to the tip while the other blade was inaccessible underneath the wreckage.

A review of airplane maintenance logbooks revealed that the most recent airframe 100-hour inspection was performed on June 8, 2018. The aircraft total time was 9787 hours, which was about 85 hours prior to the accident. The most recent engine 100-hour inspection was performed on August 7, 2018, about 27 hours prior to the accident, at the time when the newly overhauled engine was installed.

According to flight school records, the student pilot had accumulated 40 hours of total flight experience, all of which was in the same make/model as the accident airplane, of which 5 were as pilot in command.

At 1615, the reported weather at W96 included wind from 220° at 3 knots.

The airplane was retained for further examination.