- Date
- July 7, 1999, 16:50 local (22:50 UTC)
- Place
- Watkins, CO
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7289ECessna 182B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 12, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990707008469A
- Case key
- 46743
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 directional control of the aircraft during landing roll. A related factor was the gusty quartering 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 was making a crosswind landing on runway 26 'for practice.' During rollout, the aircraft skidded off the left side of the runway east for 30 feet, then nosed over. The aircraft sustained damage to the vertical stabilizer, right wing, and propeller. Winds recorded at the nearest official weather reporting facility, located 7.2 nm to the northwest, were from 150 degrees at 18 knots, with gusts to 24 knots. According to the Cessna Aircraft Corporation, neither the Cessna 182 nor the 180 (the converted tail wheel conversion) 1959 models of the Airplane Flight Manuals have demonstrated crosswind component charts, nor was it required for FAA certification.
Factual narrative
On July 7, 1999, approximately 1650 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 182B, converted to a tailwheel airplane, N7289E, registered to and operated by Homestead Oil, Inc., Morrison, Colorado, was substantially damaged when the aircraft nosed over during landing roll at Front Range Airport, Watkins, Colorado. The airline transport rated pilot was not injured but his passenger received serious injuries. No flight plan was filed for the personal cross-country flight that originated from Valentine, Nebraska, at 1600 central daylight time. The flight was being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
According to the pilot, he made a crosswind landing on runway 26 "for practice." During rollout, the aircraft skidded off the left side of the runway east of taxiway A5 for approximately 30 feet, then nosed over. The aircraft sustained damage to the vertical stabilizer, right wing, and propeller. According to a witness, the winds were from 160 degrees at 17 knots, with gusts to 22 knots, at the time the aircraft landed.
Weather conditions at Denver International Airport, located 7.2 nm to the northwest, were reported as winds from 150 degrees at 18 knots, with gusts to 24 knots. According to the Cessna Aircraft Corporation, neither the 1959 Cessna 182 (nosewheel) nor the Cessna 180 (tailwheel) model Airplane Flight Manuals have demonstrated crosswind component charts, nor were they required for FAA certification.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7289E
- Reported as
- Cessna 182B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 52289
- Airframe hours
- 3,278
- Engine
- Continental O-470-L, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Homestead Oil, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 21, 1998 · 65 hours before
- Departed
- VTN · Valentine, NE
- Destination
- FTG
- Airport
- FTG · Front Range Airport, runway 26, 8,000 × 100 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
- 63
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22,600 total · 1,100 in this make and model · 21,000 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 18 knots, gusting 24
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DEN, 7 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 N7289E · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.