Gusty Crosswind Tests Student Pilot

Even when you think the weather is going to cooperate, you need to keep an eye out for the occasional fits that Mother nature likes to throw at you. A Powered Trike student pilot, flying N805M, found that out the hard way... though, thankfully, all will eventually be well with both aircraft and pilot. The trike got crunched pretty well, but the pilot had minor injuries.

From The NTSB Preliminary Report: The student pilot reported that while on approach for landing, the airplane encountered a crosswind gust near the ground. The pilot attempted to abort the landing, however, he could not arrest the descent and the airplane touched down hard on the runway on all three wheels. The airplane briefly became airborne and hit the runway hard again severing the left rear wheel. As a result of the impact, there was substantial damage to the airframe.

The pilot stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

The pilot reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was light and variable. The airport's automated weather observation station reported that the wind was calm.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov