- Date
- January 12, 1999, 13:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Centre, AL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6700ACessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990112017279A
- Case key
- 45650
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning and his failure to attain the proper touchdown point on the runway. Factors were the tailwind weather condition, and the wet sod runway.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
According to the pilot, there were power lines on the north end of the 2,000 foot runway so he elected to make a downwind landing to the north to miss the lines. The airplane landed long, and during the landing roll, the pilot found that the winds were stronger then expected and the airplane would not stop on the wet grass. The airplane slid off the end of the runway, crossing a ditch and highway 411, nosing over in a ditch on the other-side of the highway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to include the propeller, wing strut, wing spars, vertical stabilizer, and a collapsed nose gear.
Factual narrative
On January 12, 1999, at 1300 Central Standard Time, a Cessna 172, N6700A, nosed over during the landing roll on a private grass strip in Centre, Alabama. The aircraft was owned and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane had departed Gadsden, Alabama, at 1230.
According to the pilot, there were power lines on the north end of the 2,000 foot runway so he elected to make a downwind landing to the north to miss the lines. According to the FAA the airplane touched down about 500 feet down the runway. During the landing roll, the pilot found that the winds were stronger than expected and the airplane would not stop on the wet grass. The airplane slid off the end of the runway, crossing a ditch and highway 411, nosing over in a ditch on the other-side of the highway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to included the propeller, wing strut, wing spars, vertical stabilizer, and a collapsed nose gear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6700A
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28800
- Engine
- Continental O-300A, 140 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Bobby Dean Carlton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- GAD · Gadsden, AL
- Destination
- AL27 · Centre, AL
- Airport
- AL27 · Headquarters, runway 18, 2,000 × 75 ft, grass/turf
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.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 66
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 165 total · 116 in this make and model · 113 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 15 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ANB, 41 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.