- Date
- September 3, 1999, 16:47 local (22:47 UTC)
- Place
- Englewood, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N62740Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 22, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990903043629A
- Case key
- 47263
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 adequate airspeed during the flare for landing/touchdown phase of flight. A factor was a ditch off the side of the runway.
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 student pilot was conducting a full stop landing at the completion of a solo training flight. He was using a short field approach to landing and his airspeed deteriorated during the flare to one knot above published stall. The aircraft drifted to the left, touched down off the side of the runway, and subsequently nosed over in a ditch.
Factual narrative
On September 3, 1999, at 1647 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172P, N62740, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during landing roll at Centennial Airport, Englewood, Colorado. The student pilot, and sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this training flight operating under Title 14 CFR Part 91, and no flight plan was filed. The flight departed Centennial Airport at 1513.
According to the pilot, he had conducted seven touch-and-go landings and was conducting his final landing on runway 35L with the wind directly down the runway at 10 to 15 knots. He said he was using a short field landing approach with 30 degrees flaps and the aircraft started to drift left in the flare at about 45 knots and he could not correct the drift with right rudder so he added full power in an attempt to regain control. The aircraft continued to drift left, touched down off the west side of the runway, and nosed over in a ditch. Recorded wind at the time was 310 degrees at 10 knots.
The published stall speed, power off, using 30 degrees flaps, on the Cessna 172P is 44 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N62740
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275331
- Airframe hours
- 7,005
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Wings Of Denver
- Registered owner
- Mccully, C. W., Rock, R. D.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 18, 1999 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- APA
- Airport
- APA · Centennial, runway 35L, 7,003 × 77 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
- 48
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 92 total · 92 in this make and model · 22 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- APA, 1 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 N62740 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.