- Date
- April 2, 2021, 12:35 local (18:35 UTC)
- Place
- Denver, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4802Cessna 180
- Defining event
- Landing: Wrong surface or wrong airport
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210402003339A
- Case key
- 102877
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 loss of situational awareness, and his unintended landing on a soft unimproved dirt road, which resulted in a loss of directional control into soft ground and the airplane to subsequently nose over.
Findings · 3
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 reported that he saw, what appeared to be his intended landing runway and set up for landing. During the landing touchdown, the pilot noticed that the airplane was difficult to control due to the soft soil. As the airplane continued the rollout, it drifted about 20 ft off the pilot’s intended direction into softer soil. Just before the airplane came to a stop, the right tire sunk into the soft ground and the airplane nosed over coming to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing strut and vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations. After the accident, the pilot reported that he had not landed on his intended runway but on an unimproved dirt road about 0.3 miles from the runway that ran parallel to the runway. The pilot reported that he had spent too much time looking for traffic in the landing pattern and lost situational awareness of his position relative to the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4802
- Reported as
- Cessna 180 (K)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18053017
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 15,000
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-520 SERIES, 275 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- None
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 2021
- Departed
- FNL · Fort Collins, CO
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 18V · Platte Valley Airpark
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display, Onboard weather
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
- 62
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 6, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 580 total · 491 in this make and model · 515 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 9 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.07 inHg
- Observed at
- KDEN, 17 nm away
- METAR
- KDEN 021753Z VRB06KT 10SM FEW100 SCT140 BKN200 22/M13 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP126 T02171133 10217 20067 50002
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.2 MB 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.