- Date
- January 8, 2000, 12:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Huntsville, UT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N65710Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000108012199A
- Case key
- 48458
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 snow shower, and the lack of suitable terrain for the precautionary landing.
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 flight instructor and his student were flying in the mountains when a snow storm was encountered. The instructor decided to make a precautionary landing because flight conditions were deteriorating to IMC. While landing on the icy road, the airplane slid off into a ditch.
Factual narrative
On January 8, 2000, at 1230 mountain standard time, a Cessna 172P, N65710, was substantially damaged during a precautionary landing on a road near Huntsville, Utah. The flight instructor and his student were not injured. The airplane was being operated by Utah State University, Logan, Utah, under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight which originated from Heber, Utah, approximately 45 minutes before the accident. A school VFR flight plan had been filed.
A witness reported that a snow storm "came in real fast," and conditions deteriorated in 5 minutes. The flight instructor said that they were surrounded by mountains and the "flight conditions became instrument meteorological in a matter of minutes." He said he could see a road below him and he landed. During the landing rollout, the instructor pilot discovered that the road was covered with ice. The road curved to the left, and the airplane exited the road to the right, and impacted a ditch, damaging the engine firewall and engine mounts.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65710
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275828
- Airframe hours
- 9,199
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Utah State University
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 17, 1999 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- 36U · Heber City Muni, UT
- Destination
- LGU · Logan, UT
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 580 total · 180 in this make and model · 547 as pilot in command · 94 in the last 90 days · 21 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,600 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- OGD, 8 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.