Practice Emergency Gets REALLY Real

It's a rite of passage... simulating an engine failure in order to practice and hone skills that you hope NEVER to use. Sometimes the practice becomes a mite real -- too real in the case of a Designated Pilot Examiner who chopped the throttle on an applicant... and then found it wasn't willing to come back to life. Ya just know that a few choice words were uttered upon that realization... Repeat after me, folks... OH SH**!

NTSB Identification: CEN11LA069
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, November 12, 2010 in Farmersburg, IN
Aircraft: CESSNA 172R, registration: N531HF
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On November 12, 2010, about 1535 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172R, N531HF, piloted by a student pilot, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following an in-flight loss of engine power near Farmersburg, Indiana. The local flight was being conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The purpose of the flight was to conduct a private pilot practical test. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot and designated pilot examiner on-board were not injured. The flight departed Terre Haute International Airport – Hulman Field (HUF), Terre Haute, Indiana, at 1505.

The flight test progressed normally, and had included stall and steep turn demonstrations prior to the loss of engine power. The flight crew reported that they conducted a simulated engine failure and were unable to regain engine power at the conclusion of the maneuver. The designated pilot examiner subsequently executed a forced landing to a tilled soybean field. The airplane nosed over during the landing rollout, coming to rest inverted.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov