- Date
- June 30, 2000, 08:50 local (14:50 UTC)
- Place
- Durango, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4642JCessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000630010119A
- Case key
- 49687
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 prematurely flaring the airplane for landing, resulting in a hard landing, followed by an inadvertent pilot-induced porpoise and loss of directional control. A factor was the fence.
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 solo student planned to make a touch-and-go landing on runway 1. The takeoff and landing approach were uneventful. The student said he deployed 20 degrees of flaps and slowed the airplane to about 65 knots. As he approached the runway threshold, he closed the throttle and raised the nose. The airplane 'started to go up and down too rapidly.' The main landing gear 'hit hard' and the airplane 'bounced off the ground and . . .started to torque to the left. The airplane then landed on its nose gear and skidded left off the runway,' coming to rest against a barbed wire fence.
Factual narrative
On June 30, 2000, approximately 0850 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N4642J, operated by Gregg Flying Service, Inc., was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during landing at Animas Air Park, Durango, Colorado. The student pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated at Durango a few minutes before the accident.
According to the pilot's accident report, his instructor told him to make a touch-and-go landing on runway 1. The takeoff and landing approach were uneventful. He said he deployed 20 degrees of flaps and slowed the airplane to about 65 knots. As he approached the runway threshold, he closed the throttle and raised the nose. The airplane "started to go up and down too rapidly." The main landing gear "hit hard" and the airplane "bounced off the ground and . . .started to torque to the left. The [air]plane then landed on its [nose] gear and skidded left off the runway," coming to rest against a barbed wire fence.
Damage was thought to be minimal until repairs were begun. The left horizontal stabilizer was damaged and the firewall was buckled.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4642J
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17273658
- Airframe hours
- 8,450
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gregg Flying Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 11, 2000 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- 00C
- Destination
- OOC
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- 00C · Animas Airpark, runway 1, 5,010 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 16 total · 16 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DRO, 9 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 N4642J · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.