N5229FCessna 172F · 1965

The flight instructor reported that, during landing, he directed the student pilot to initiate a go-around. During the climb, the instructor saw dust devils at the end of the runway, so he instructed the student to also initiate a slight left turn. The instructor then noticed power lines past the dust devils, so he decided to take the controls from the student and continued a shallow, 200 ft-per-minute climbing left turn to the south. While in the turn, the instructor saw other high-tension power lines to the south, so he decided to initiate a precautionary soft field landing to a plowed field adjacent to the runway. During landing, the nose landing gear touched down and the airplane nosed over.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing lift strut and vertical stabilizer.

The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

An automated weather observation station, about 20 minutes before the accident, about 15 nautical miles north from the accident site, reported the wind was 310° at 6 knots, temperature of 97ºF, altimeter setting of 29.93. The calculated density altitude was about 4,237 ft. According to the Federal Aviation Administration density altitude Koch Chart, the airplane would have likely experienced about a 37% decrease to the normal climb rate, and about a 55% increase to the normal takeoff distance. The pilot reported that the wind was 140º at 6 knots. The airplane departed from runway 23.