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Friends of the young flight instructor who died in a plane crash in Virginia Thursday said her lifelong dream was to become a commercial pilot and called her a legend for working toward it. Viktoria Theresie Izabelle Ljungman, 23, died in the crash when an 18-year-old student pilot she was instructing pulled the small plane up at too steep an angle at takeoff — which caused the engine to stall and the aircraft to plummet from about 100 feet. “I remember when I first met her, that’s all she ever wanted to do. She wanted to be a commercial pilot,” Charlie Hudson, who played tennis with Ljungman at Hampton University, told the Daily Press.

The single-engine Cessna 172, carrying Ljungman, the student pilot Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode and another unidentified 18-year-old student, crashed around 3 p.m. in a ditch at Newport News-Williamsburg Airport.

the student pilot Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode

>Friends of the young flight instructor who died in a plane crash in Virginia Thursday said her lifelong dream was to become a commercial pilot and called her a legend for working toward it. Viktoria Theresie Izabelle Ljungman, 23, died in the crash when an 18-year-old student pilot she was instructing pulled the small plane up at too steep an angle at takeoff — which caused the engine to stall and the aircraft to plummet from about 100 feet. “I remember when I first met her, that’s all she ever wanted to do. She wanted to be a commercial pilot,” Charlie Hudson, who played tennis with Ljungman at Hampton University, told the Daily Press. >The single-engine Cessna 172, carrying Ljungman, the student pilot ***Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode*** and another unidentified 18-year-old student, crashed around 3 p.m. in a ditch at Newport News-Williamsburg Airport. >#the student pilot ***Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode***

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[–] • 3 pts

What I don't understand is that the aircraft must have had L and R controls. A stall like that doesn't just happen. Why wasn't Ljungman immediately at the controls correcting the aircraft? Was she paying absolutely no attention to the aircraft? As the most senior pilot in the aircraft? Or was she unable to take control?

I understand they were low and this all happened very quickly in real-time. But I think its fair to expect a "competant" pilot to be able to easily identify the warning signs before a stall during takeoff can happen.

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

That's a fair comment. Obviously I wasn't there. Much speculation on the behalf of my comment. My point was to explain just how easily this can happen using a plausible explanation. A pull through stall at low speeds and low altitude is basically a death sentence. Wing drops. You can't recover. Once you hit stall there is no recovery at that altitude. Departure and then arrival stalls are one of the more common causes of aviation fatalities. Even without student pilots. Altitude is what allows for stall and spin recovery.

Stall speed with full flaps is basically 50 mph. If he pulled back at 60 mph, that 10 mph bleed off can happen within a second or so. And it can take the pilot a second to recognize the danger. By the time she took positive control of the aircraft (assume the student didn't freeze, locking the controls), it's too late. Even if she immediately started stall recovery at this altitude, nose in is almost certain. At 100 AGL, I honestly don't see any other outcome as a possibility.

Maybe it played out differently? Maybe she froze? Maybe she wasn't paying attention at all? Regardless, it's far easier to happen than most people are aware.

While not a 172, in my aircraft, spins are not allowed. Entering a full spin requires > 9,000' AGL to recover. I offer this to point out, there are extremely dangerous flight profiles you simply don't enter because you will not exit that flight profile alive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Hultgreen

She died because he entered a prohibited flight profile for her aircraft. She died because she was a bad pilot. While they made a big deal about how you can't recover from what killed her, that's literally why it's prohibited to enter such a flight profile. She died because she entered the prohibited flight profile and not because she couldn't recover. A fine but important distinction.