Skylark 175
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 226; Flight Crew Total 551; Flight Crew Type 194
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors; Weather
Upon landing; my student and I had a propeller strike on the runway surface. With winds at 360 gusting up to 17 kts; we had a healthy crosswind. My student was handling the wind conditions well and made proper control inputs throughout the landing. Upon landing; the aircraft entered an extremely nose-low attitude which caused the propeller to strike the runway surface. As the plane began to enter its nose-low attitude; I realized that my student was not handling the after-landing process as I had anticipated. I immediately reached for the controls to make prompt corrective inputs and recover the aircraft into a normal after-landing attitude.Focusing on recovering the nose-low attitude and trying to bring the aircraft back into a safe position was all that occupied my mind at the moment. I failed to say 'My Controls' to my student which I believe; in turn; caused the student to remain on the controls and brakes while I attempted to recover the aircraft. With both of us on the controls; the aircraft was not responding properly to either of our inputs. The aircraft continued to travel to the right of centerline and exited the paved surface of the runway approximately 10-15 ft. where we brought it to a stop.As the CFI (Flight Instructor); my largest takeaway is in the area of communication with my student. Because of my immediate reaction to the situation; I did not communicate to him my intent to take control of the aircraft. I did not tell him to get his hands and feet off the controls. I did not make sure that he knew without doubt that I needed him off of his controls so I could have effective use of mine.My action moving forward with students will be specifically focused on effective communication and making sure there are no barriers between the message I send them; then confirming that they received that same message. Emphasizing the fact that if I say 'my controls' at any point during flight or ground operations; I need them to be 100% off of all the flight controls so I can have immediate and full effective use of my flight controls.During all phases of flight I will be taking specific action to verify and assure safety of flight so my student is briefed on what is to come as well as for my knowledge that the student understands what I am communicating to them. Another practice I will be revisiting with my students will be demonstrating safety risk management as a normal part of the landing and after-landing phases of flight.
C175 Flight Instructor reported a runway excursion occurred when he failed to properly communicate to his student his intention to take control of the aircraft.