- Date
- August 20, 2000, 19:00 local (Aug 21, 2000, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Douglas, WY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N61782Cessna 180K
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000820013059A
- Case key
- 50039
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 maintain control of the aircraft during landing roll. Factors were high winds and crosswinds.
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
During landing roll at the completion of a cross-country flight, the aircraft departed the left side of the runway and the right wing sustained substantial damage when it impacted the ground. The landing was being made on runway 5 and the wind was from 010 degrees magnetic heading at 27 knots with gusts to 34 knots. This produced a calculated direct crosswind of 17 knots with a direct crosswind of 23 knots during peak gusts. In accordance with this aircraft's certification requirements established in 14 CFR Part 23, published crosswind limitations are not required. The demonstrated crosswind capability listed in the operating handbook is 12 knots.
Factual narrative
On August 20, 2000, at 1900 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 180K, N61782, sustained substantial damage and the pilot was not injured when the right wing contacted the ground during a crosswind landing at Douglas, Wyoming. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this cross-country personal flight operating under Title 14 CFR Part 91 and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from a private airstrip at Chugwater, Wyoming at 1820.
According to the pilot, when the flight arrived in the Douglas area he entered left traffic for a landing on runway 5. He said the wind was from the north and he maintained directional control for 300 to 400 hundred feet following touchdown and then lost directional control and the aircraft "weathervaned" to the left and departed the side of the runway. When the aircraft left the runway the right wing and propeller struck the ground.
Examination of the aircraft by an FAA inspector revealed both spar and rib damage to the outer portion of the right wing.
Recorded wind at the time of the accident was from 010 degrees magnetic heading at 27 knots with gusts to 34 knots. The direct steady state crosswind was computed to be 17 knots and the peak gusts produced a direct crosswind computed at 23 knots. According to the aircraft operating handbook, the demonstrated direct crosswind capability is 12 knots. In accordance with this aircraft's certification requirements established in 14 CFR Part 23, published crosswind limitations are not required.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N61782
- Reported as
- Cessna 180K
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18052798
- Airframe hours
- 2,928
- Engine
- Continental O-470-U, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Rodger V. Schroeder
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 11, 1999 · 16 hours before
- Departed
- Chugwater, WY
- Destination
- DGW
- Airport
- DGW · Converse County, runway 5, 4,760 × 75 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
- 50
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 434 total · 376 in this make and model · 434 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 27 knots, gusting 34
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DGW
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.