- Date
- February 20, 2000, 14:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Tower, MN
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 3 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N6545ACessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000220012049A
- Case key
- 48662
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 passenger not maintaining clearance from the rotating propeller.
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
A passenger deplaned, walked into the airplane's rotating propeller, and sustained fatal injuries. The pilot and two other passengers were uninjured. The flight originated from a private airstrip near Lake Vermilion, Minnesota at 1415, landed on Lake Vermilion, and was standing at the time of the accident. The pilot said his daughter's friends were approaching the airplane using their snowmobiles. He stated she was '...excited to meet with her friends.' The pilot stated, 'When the aircraft stopped I pulled out the fuel mixture as I was shutting down other equipment in the aircraft my daughter ... slipped out of the rear seat of the aircraft, when I saw her outside I screamed her name as she turned to look at me her body shifted foward and she was struck in the head once as the prop made its final revolution.'
Factual narrative
On February 20, 2000, at 1430 central standard time, a Cessna 180, N6545A, operated by a private pilot, was standing on Lake Vermilion, near Tower, Minnesota, when a passenger deplaned and walked into the airplane's rotating propeller. The deplaned passenger sustained fatal injuries. The pilot and two other passengers were uninjured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed during the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. The airplane was undamaged. The flight originated from a private airstrip near Lake Vermilion, Minnesota at 1415, landed on Lake Vermilion, and was standing at the time of the accident.
The pilot stated that he landed the airplane on Lake Vermilion and stopped the airplane. He said that his daughter's friends were approaching the airplane using their snowmobiles. He stated that she was "...excited to meet with her friends."
The pilot stated, "When the aircraft stopped I pulled out the fuel mixture as I was shutting down other equipment in the aircraft my daughter ... slipped out of the rear seat of the aircraft, when I saw her outside I screamed her name as she turned to look at me her body shifted foward and she was struck in the head once as the prop made its final revolution."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6545A
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32442
- Airframe hours
- 4,658
- Engine
- Continental O-470-K, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dale W. Gustafson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 20, 1999 · 28 hours before
- Departed
- PVT · Lake Vermilion, MN
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
- 51
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 579 total · 234 in this make and model · 3 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 41 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CQM, 29 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.
Other investigations on N6545A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.