- Date
- September 29, 1996, 12:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Delavan, WI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N7216QCessna 172L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 23, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960929030279A
- Case key
- 10403
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 assure the airplane was properly secured prior to hand-propping the engine.
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 was unable to start the airplane so he set the parking brake and hand-propped the engine. The unoccupied airplane started, traveled off the ramp and collide with a fence and a ditch prior to coming to rest on the shoulder of a highway. The pilot did not use chocks.
Factual narrative
On September 29, 1996, at 1215 central daylight time, a Cessna 172L, N7216Q, collided with a fence and a ditch while being hand propped by a private pilot prior to flight. The accident occurred at the Lake Lawn Airport, Delavan, Wisconsin. The pilot who was outside the airplane was not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
The pilot reported that the starter would not engage so he set the parking brake and hand propped the engine. The engine started and the airplane traveled across the ramp with no one at the controls. The airplane collided with a fence and a ditch. One witness reported, "It then stood on it's nose, then fell, left wing first and rolled up onto the shoulder of Highway 50 where it came to rest."
The pilot reported that he did not use chocks under the wheels while hand propping the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7216Q
- Reported as
- Cessna 172L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17260516
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Cougar Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- C-59
- Airport
- C59 · Lake Lawn
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 101 total · 28 in this make and model · 69 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.