ANC26LA020

NTSB accident investigation · Cessna 182Q · Mapleton, IA · October 29, 2025

Accident · No injuriesClass 3 · LimitedPreliminary report
Date
October 29, 2025, 12:00 local (17:00 UTC)
Place
Mapleton, IA · Bean field, rising terrain
Injuries
4 uninjured
Damage
Substantial damage
Phase of flight
Enroute
Aircraft
N735ZDCessna 182Q
Defining event
Enroute: Powerplant sys/comp malf/fail
Status
Investigation ongoing
Investigation class
Class 3
NTSB office
Alaska Regional Office
Parties
FAA
Case key
202453

From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.

On this page

Preliminary report

What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.

On October 29, 2025, at about 1200 Central daylight time, a Cessna 182Q, N735ZD, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Mapleton, Iowa. The pilot and three passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91personal flight. The pilot reported that during takeoff, just after liftoff, one propeller blade lost pitch control, and the airplane was unable to climb. He said that the stall warning horn continued to sound after liftoff, and a passenger described a loud buzzing sound starting before liftoff. The airplane subsequently impacted an area of rising terrain in a harvested bean field, sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage. After the accident, the pilot told his passengers that he needed to get the airplane back to the airport, and the passengers demanded to get out, exited the airplane and called 911. Without shutting down the engine, the pilot taxied the airplane down the hill and made an unsuccessful takeoff attempt on the flat open field. A post examination of the wreckage is pending.

Sequence of events

The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.

Aircraft

Registration
N735ZD
Reported as
Cessna 182Q
Category
Airplane
Serial number
18265807
Built
1977
Damage
Substantial damage
Flight
Personal · Part 91
Airworthiness certificate
Standard, Normal
Departed
MEY · Mapleton, IA
Airport
MEY

Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.