- Date
- January 12, 2008, 15:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Pine Bluffs, WY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N12606Cessna 172M
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 30, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards Field Office
- FAA report
- 20080112009909A
- Case key
- 67377
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 airplane. Contributing factors in this accident were the unfavorable wind and the snow bank.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot had been practicing touch-and-go landings when "a very large gust of wind blew [him] completely out of control to the point of approaching airborne." The airplane went off the side of the runway and struck a snow bank, resulting in substantial damage.
Factual narrative
On January 12, 2008, approximately 1500 mountain standard time, a Cessna 172M, N12606, piloted by a private pilot, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during landing at Pine Bluffs Airport (82v), Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot, the sole occupant on board, was not injured. The local flight originated at 82V approximately 1445.
According to the pilot's accident report, he had been practicing touch-and-go landings when "I experienced something that I had never experienced [in] my 50 years of flying...a very large gust of wind blew me completely out of control to the point of approaching airborne and I had to fight to keep the wings level, the plane straight and parallel with the runway with much difficulty in addition with left aileron down and left brake. And it still would not correct the plane's position." The airplane went off the side of the runway and struck a snow bank. Damage consisted of a collapsed nose gear, buckled firewall, bent propeller, crushed engine cowling, and scraped wing tip. The airplane's owner witnessed the accident and corroborated the pilot's report.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N12606
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17262108
- Airframe hours
- 5,828
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E1D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Marquardt Farms, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 82V · Pine Bluffs, WY
- Destination
- 82V` · Pine Bluffs, WY
- Airport
- 82V · Pine Bluffs, runway 08, 5,336 × 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
- 77
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 651 total · 281 in this make and model · 617 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- IBM
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.