A plane from ERAU went off the runway yesterday in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was wondering if anyone knows what happened and if the pilot(s) were ok? All I saw was the plane dug into the ground on the south side of the runway with fire trucks around it. Was wondering the cause and if everyone was ok...

Uh, did I miss something, or was there a reason to move this thread to "Career Builder" under "Flight Schools" section?

I have yet to hear any thing, but I am kind of out of the loop at the moment. I only make it to the airport a few days a week now. I'll ask a few of the instructors I know there.

i havent heard anything so i doubt is anything major...

I saw pictures of it, looks like a nose first landing from the looks of it O'well

It was a solo cross-country student pilot making a landing at FLG. According to the student he made a normal landing in winds (at the time pretty calm) when a gust from the left caused a loss of control of the aircraft and thus departed the runway. The nose gear collapsed, causing a prop strike which stopped the engine. The right wing tip also hit the ground. Firewall damage was sustained, therefore classifying this incident as an accident. No injuries to the student.

I have pics as well.


EDIT: This was in an email:

On Sunday, 17 May 2009, at 1140 local an ERAU Cessna-172 had a runway excursion at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport. The sole pilot on board on his FA-121 Solo Cross-Country was uninjured, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The aircraft made a normal landing on centerline about 1200’ past the Displaced Threshold, runway 21.
After slowing down for 165’ the pilot encountered a left crosswind gust of considerable strength which steered the aircraft to the left.
The pilot tried to maintain directional control with mostly rudder input but failed to stay on the runway and exited into the grass after 240’.
The aircraft continue for another 240’ through the grass and hit a 12” berm which weakened the landing gear nose wheel structure.
After another 70’ the nose wheel collapsed in soft ground and the lateral force of the left turn tipped the right wing to the ground.

Damage to the aircraft includes the nose gear assembly, fire wall, supportive structure, right wing tip, and possibly right wing spar.
The propeller struck the ground at nose wheel collapse and the engine came to a forced stoppage under power.

Following NTSB directives this mishap will be classified as an accident.

This crash seems to be horribly under-reported. Not even the Flagstaff newspaper reported it, let alone the Arizona Republic or the Phoenix-area TV stations. I didn't see any message about it in my Riddle student email account, and my former roommate (who's still there for the summer) didn't even know it happened.

In fact that only indication I have that the accident actually occurred is this thread and the fact that the guy I worked with on campus said he heard about it.

The school keeps it pretty tight for privacy reasons. Unfortuneately this leads to rumors and incorrect assumptions most of the time.

This does explain why a FIF prohibiting SXC's to FLG came out.

I just so happened to be at the flight line talking with the Flight Sup when the call came in. Had I not been there, the e-mail would have been the only way I would have known about it, as is the case with most of the other IPs.

They didn't even send any kind of notice that a crash occurred, at least not to students. The FIF just said "Student pilot solo operations at the Flagstaff, AZ airport (KFLG) are not authorized."

I am aware that some kind of email was sent out to staff. (The guy I worked with on campus gets staff email). However no email was sent to students, not even a "generic" one admitting the occurrence of an accident without giving names.


Do you know what has happened to the aircraft? Which a/c was it?

Incidents like these are to be expected among ERAU students.
YouTube - What a scare!

Sorry, I just had to do it.