- Date
- July 11, 1993, 15:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Prairie City, IA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N91162Cessna 182
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 17, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 9239
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 premature liftoff. Factors in the accident are the soft and 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
The pilot reported he was attempting to takeoff from runway 35. The sod field was soft and wet and he elected to use a soft field takeoff technique. Shortly after liftoff, the airplane settled back to the runway. The main landing gear touched down first, followed by the nose wheel, which became mired in the mud and broke off. The airplane subsequently went off the runway and nosed over. The pilot claimed no preaccident mechanical difficulties with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On July 11, 1993, about 1530 central daylight time, a Cessna 182 airplane, N91162, sustained substantial damage during an attempted takeoff from Prairie City Airport, Prairie City, Iowa. The private pilot and three passengers aboard were not injured. The local pleasure flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 without flight plan in visual meteorological conditions.
The pilot reported during a telephone interview he was attempting to takeoff from runway 35. The sod field was soft and wet and he elected to use a soft field takeoff technique. Shortly after liftoff, the airplane settled back to the runway. The main landing gear touched down first, followed by the nose wheel, which became mired in the mud and broke off. The airplane subsequently went off the runway and nosed over.
The pilot claimed no preaccident mechanical difficulties with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N91162
- Reported as
- Cessna 182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18261960
- Engine
- Continental O-470-R, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- Unknown
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Baxter Flying Club
- Registered owner
- Baxter Flying Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Airport
- 3C0 · Prairie City Airport, runway 35, 1,500 × 45 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 250 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 5 knots
- Observed at
- FOD, 70 nm away