- Date
- October 15, 2022, 01:00 local (05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Elizabethtown, KY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N63663Cessna 172P
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Navigation error
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- 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
- 20221015017939A
- Case key
- 106171
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 decision to continue the taxi without visual reference to the surface, due to his vision being impaired by darkness and glare, which resulted in the airplane’s departure from the paved surface and impact with a ditch. Contributing was the flight instructor’s inadequate monitoring of the pilot.
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 private pilot and flight instructor were performing a cross-country instrument flight rules training flight at night, and while enroute, diverted from their planned destination to a non-towered airport to refuel. After landing at the diversion airport, the pilot attempted to navigate via taxiways toward the ramp environment. As the taxi progressed toward the ramp, the blue taxiway edge lights ended, and a “significant glare” from the hangar lights directly ahead obscured the pilot’s forward view through the dirty windscreen. Believing that they had entered the ramp area, the pilot turned toward the fueling area, but the airplane then departed the paved surface onto grass and slid into a ditch. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact anomalies or malfunctions affecting the airplane’s operation. Had the pilot and flight instructor elected to discontinue taxiing the airplane after losing sight of the ground ahead due to the darkness and glare, it is likely that the accident would not have occurred.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63663
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275465
- Built
- 1981
- Airframe hours
- 8,846.1
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Tennessee Flyers, Inc
- Registered owner
- Lake Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 25, 2022
- Departed
- 2I6 · Springfield, KY
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- EKX · Addington Fld, runway 23, 6,001 × 100 ft, concrete
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Stall warning system, ADS-B
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Last flight review
- January 19, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 202.8 total · 132.4 in this make and model · 168.6 as pilot in command · 36.3 in the last 90 days · 5.1 in the last 30 days · 5.1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 20
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 1, 2021
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 745.9 total · 185.6 in this make and model · 654.9 as pilot in command · 83.4 in the last 90 days · 32.9 in the last 30 days · 5.1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- 200° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.82 inHg
- Observed at
- EKX
- METAR
- KEKX 150455Z AUTO 20009KT 10SM CLR 15/02 A2982 RMK AO2 T01480018
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 6, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.1 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.