- Date
- July 21, 1991, 20:00 local (Jul 22, 1991, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Watkins, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N733BXCessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910721040869A
- Case key
- 18115
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 selected the wrong runway and landed with a tailwind.
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 pilot attempted to land with 40 degrees flaps in what he did not realize was a 15 knot tailwind. The airplane was seen to cross midfield at 100 feet AGL, and touched down on the runway about 100 to 200 yards from the end. The pilot immediately locked the brakes, but the airplane went off the end of the runway, struck a ditch, and overturned.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N733BX
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17268178
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Aurora Airpark, Inc.
- Airport
- 01V · Aurora Airpark, runway 14, 4,694 × 40 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
- 24
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 30 total · 22 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 70 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- BKF, 5 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.