- Date
- April 18, 1985, 22:00 local (Apr 19, 1985, 05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Fe, NM
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N52457Cessna 172 P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850418016169A
- Case key
- 16535
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
Two persons, neither rated as plts, took the acft without the knowledge or consent of the operator or arpt officials. They took off at night, & after a short time, returned to the arpt to land. During an attempted landing, the acft touched down hard, bounced twice, then departed toward the southwest. A short time later, the acft crashed about 3 mi west northwest of the arpt, but it was not fnd until late on the morning of 4/20/85. Impact occurred near a high tension power line while at high speed in a nose low, slightly right wing low attitude & on a hdg of 140 deg. An investigation revealed that the acft did not collide with the wires. Both occupants had been employed by the operator as line boys. One was still employed & had access to the office. Both had been drinking beer for some time prior to the flt. Tox shecks showed the l front seat occupant had an alcohol lvl of 0.239%; the r front occupant had a lvl of 0.184%.neither occupant had used the available seat belt or shoulder harness.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52457
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17274531
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Santa Fe Aviation
- Registered owner
- Ross & Sylvial Palmer
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 30, 1985
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
- 27
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 30° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SAF, 3 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.