A C172 instructor reported that low time student lost control of the aircraft at 500 ft over water a...

Narrative:

Two people visited our FBO wanting a local area flight lesson southward along the coast. The man wanted to sit up front and receive flight training while the woman wished to sit in the back seat and take photos of the beach front. After departing the terminal area; we descended to 1;000 MSL. When we were over water; we descended to 500 MSL. The student did not trim the airplane correctly for the cruise at 500 MSL. The first time he dipped below 500 MSL; ATC queried us. After his second decent below 500 MSL; both; 'without [him] realizing it;' I readjusted his trim and throttle. He was able to control the airplane once again; at least for a while. Suddenly; his friend in the back seat shouted; 'back there. There it is. Turn around!' the next thing I knew; we were in a 60 degree left bank; and the student was not compensating for the resulting loss of lift. We were heading right for a boat on the water! I immediately announced; 'I've got it; my airplane.' the student immediately relinquished the flight controls; but not before loosing a total of 300 ft to recover from the steep bank and dive. I was able to recover from the unusual attitude with no problem. I initiated an immediate vy climb. After reaching 500 MSL; I told the student that I would control the airplane below 1;500 MSL until he could demonstrate better command ability. The student was in complete agreement and apologized; '... For almost killing us.' the flight continued without further incident. Afterward during our debrief the student admitted that while he was looking outside; he was not looking out at the horizon. Instead; he was looking down at the water; which is likely the cause of his descent tendency at 500 MSL. As far as the sudden steep turn was concerned; the student admitted that he failed to check for traffic before turning. He also admitted that he learned from the experience about aggressively over controlling the airplane; especially at low altitudes over a featureless surface. We also discussed basic aerodynamics of wings and airfoils; especially while turning and climbing. The student agreed that he needed more training on controlling an airplane in flight. The student had 18 hours of dual flight experience; his last lesson was a month ago.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C172 Instructor reported that low time student lost control of the aircraft at 500 FT over water as he banked steeply and descended to 200 FT to look at a nearby boat.

Narrative: Two people visited our FBO wanting a local area flight lesson southward along the coast. The man wanted to sit up front and receive flight training while the woman wished to sit in the back seat and take photos of the beach front. After departing the terminal area; we descended to 1;000 MSL. When we were over water; we descended to 500 MSL. The student did not trim the airplane correctly for the cruise at 500 MSL. The first time he dipped below 500 MSL; ATC queried us. After his second decent below 500 MSL; both; 'without [him] realizing it;' I readjusted his trim and throttle. He was able to control the airplane once again; at least for a while. Suddenly; his friend in the back seat shouted; 'Back there. There it is. Turn around!' The next thing I knew; we were in a 60 degree left bank; and the student was NOT compensating for the resulting loss of lift. We were heading right for a boat on the water! I immediately announced; 'I've got it; my airplane.' The student immediately relinquished the flight controls; but not before loosing a total of 300 FT to recover from the steep bank and dive. I was able to recover from the unusual attitude with no problem. I initiated an immediate Vy climb. After reaching 500 MSL; I told the student that I would control the airplane below 1;500 MSL until he could demonstrate better command ability. The student was in complete agreement and apologized; '... for almost killing us.' The flight continued without further incident. Afterward during our debrief the student admitted that while he was looking outside; he was not looking OUT at the horizon. Instead; he was looking DOWN at the water; which is likely the cause of his descent tendency at 500 MSL. As far as the sudden steep turn was concerned; the student admitted that he failed to check for traffic before turning. He also admitted that he learned from the experience about aggressively over controlling the airplane; especially at low altitudes over a featureless surface. We also discussed basic aerodynamics of wings and airfoils; especially while turning and climbing. The student agreed that he needed more training on controlling an airplane in flight. The student had 18 hours of dual flight experience; his last lesson was a month ago.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	910876
Time
Date	201009
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent Cruise
Route In Use	VFR Route
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 3900 Flight Crew Type 2600
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Miss Distance	Horizontal 1000 Vertical 200

A C172 instructor reported that low time student lost control of the aircraft at 500 ft over water as he banked steeply and descended to 200 ft to look at a nearby boat.