- Date
- December 11, 2020, 12:27 local (17:27 UTC)
- Place
- Dexter, ME
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N19801Cessna 172
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20201211017679A
- Case key
- 102412
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 loss of directional control while landing, which resulted in an encounter with snow and subsequent nose over.
Findings · 4
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
The pilot was practicing take-offs and landings and described that during the landing flare, a gust of wind pushed the airplane toward the left side of the runway. The airplane’s left main wheel then encountered snow on the side of the runway that pulled the airplane to the left. When the airplane’s nose wheel hit the snow, the airplane nosed over. The vertical stabilizer and both wings of the airplane were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N19801
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (M)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17260764
- Built
- 1972
- Airframe hours
- 5,503
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dexter Aero Club
- Registered owner
- Dexter Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 9, 2020 · 19 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 1B0 · Dexter Regional Airport, runway 16, 3,008 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator
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
- 49
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 40 total · 15 in this make and model · 12 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- BGR, 21 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 16, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.3 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.
Other investigations on N19801 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.