- Date
- May 23, 2023, 13:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Wichita, KS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N49RHTextron 172S
- Defining event
- Taxi: Prop/jet/rotor blast/suction
- 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
- 20230523004179A
- Case key
- 192227
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 failure to maintain a safe taxi distance from a turbine-powered airplane, resulting in an encounter of the turbine-powered airplane’s jet blast while taxiing.
Findings · 5
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 student pilot reported that, during taxi on taxiway A1 in a Cessna 172, a nearby turbine-powered Embraer Phenom airplane parked in the run-up area for taxiway blocked his path to the runway. After completing his pre-takeoff checklist, the student pilot radioed the Phenom crew and asked “if [he] could proceed and sneak behind them to the runway”. The Phenom crew replied, “that should be fine” and the pilot then proceeded to taxi behind the Phenom. As the Cessna taxied behind the Phenom, the jet blast lifted the airplane onto its propeller and left wing which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The Phenom maintenance crew reported they were conducting a high-power engine run and did not know that an airplane was trying to taxi behind them on taxiway A1. During the student pilot’s initial radio call, a turbine powered Beechjet airplane was taxiing the opposite direction on the taxiway and because the student pilot of the accident airplane did not identify himself with the airplane’s callsign, the maintenance crew assumed the radio call came from the Beechjet.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N49RH
- Reported as
- Textron 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S12932
- Built
- 2023
- Airframe hours
- 241
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology, doing business as WSU Tech
- Registered owner
- Christiansen Aviation, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 5, 2023
- Departed
- KAAO · Wichita, KS
- Destination
- KNVD · Nevada, MO
- Airport
- KAAO · Col. James Jabara
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 25
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 96 total · 96 in this make and model · 43 as pilot in command · 36 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- KAAO
- METAR
- METAR KAAO 231854Z AUTO 11007KT 10SM BKN060 26/12 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02610117=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 10, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.6 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.