- Date
- December 9, 2020, 18:30 local (Dec 10, 2020, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Glencoe, MN
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured; on the ground: 1 serious
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N1956VCessna 172
- Defining event
- Standing-engine(s) operating: AC/prop/rotor contact w person
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards
- FAA report
- 20201209017819A
- Case key
- 102398
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
A bystander’s inadvertent contact with the propeller while the engine was running.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
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.
Analysis
The pilot made a fuel stop as part of a solo cross-country flight. The pilot’s mother and sister had come out to the airport to visit. After fueling the airplane, his mother and sister returned to their car. The pilot conducted his preflight, started the engine, and was completing the checklist when he “heard and felt a violent thud.” He looked up to see his mother “sprinting towards the car.” The pilot shutdown the airplane. The pilot’s mother had returned to the airplane unexpectedly and was struck by the propeller resulting in a serious injury to her left arm. The airplane exhibited no obvious damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1956V
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (S)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S9934
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 5,988
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- South Dakota State University
- Registered owner
- Medary Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · November 23, 2020 · 25 hours before
- Destination
- BKX · Brookings, SD
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- GYL · Glencoe Municipal
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 3, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 161 total · 136 in this make and model · 112 as pilot in command · 35 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 2 °F, dew point -3 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- GYL
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 7, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 493 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.