- Date
- May 21, 2009, 14:15 UTC
- Place
- Tunkhannock, PA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9492ECessna 172N
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 22, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20090521006839A
- Case key
- 73883
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 attain the proper touchdown point while landing with a tailwind.
Findings · 2
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
According to the pilot, he checked the wind sock, then flew a "standard" traffic pattern at a final approach speed of 70 knots and 20-degrees flaps. He subsequently landed the airplane on runway 1, a 2,007-foot-long runway, “a few hundred feet past the threshold,” and it "seem[ed] as though [he] had a wind shift which became a tailwind." The pilot's subsequent application of brakes did not slow the airplane and during an attempt to turn off the runway, the airplane "would not steer." The airplane overran the end of the runway, went down a 10-foot embankment, nosed over, and sustained damage to the vertical stabilizer and left wing. Winds, recorded at an airport 15 miles to the southeast about the time of the accident, were from 230 degrees true at 9 knots. The pilot did not report any mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, he checked the wind sock, then flew a "standard" traffic pattern at a final approach speed of 70 knots and 20-degrees flaps. He subsequently landed the airplane on runway 1, a 2,007-foot runway, “a few hundred feet past the threshold,” and it "seem[ed] as though [he] had a wind shift which became a tailwind." The pilot's subsequent application of brakes did not slow the airplane and during an attempt to turn off the runway, the airplane "would not steer." The airplane overran the end of the runway, went down a 10-foot embankment, nosed over, and sustained damage to the vertical stabilizer and left wing. Winds, recorded at an airport 15 miles to the southeast about the time of the accident, were from 230 degrees true at 9 knots. The pilot did not report any mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9492E
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17272280
- Airframe hours
- 2,284
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 2, 2008
- Departed
- WBW · Wilkes-Barre, PA
- Destination
- 76N · Tunkhannock, PA
- Airport
- 76N · Skyhaven Airport, runway 01, 2,007 × 50 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
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 11, 2008
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,205 total · 1,326 in this make and model · 2,205 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.29 inHg
- Observed at
- AVP, 15 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 21, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.