- Date
- December 12, 2022, 13:50, time zone not recorded
- Place
- Knoxville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N783SFCessna 172
- Defining event
- Standing-engine(s) start-up: 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
- 20221212019429A
- Case key
- 106444
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 during engine start.
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
The student pilot reported that upon engine startup for a local solo flight the airplane “almost immediately pivoted to the left.” The airplane impacted a two support beams of the shade hangar it was parked under, substantially damaging the left wing. The pilot reported that the parking brake was set when the engine was started and that his feet were on the brakes. A witness reported that the airplane “started up with what sounded like an excessively high RPM.” Postaccident inspection of the throttle, toe brake, and parking brake system by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N783SF
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (SP)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S8980
- Built
- 2001
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Knoxville Flight Training Academy
- Registered owner
- Bremfour Aviation Group Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- DKX · Knoxville Downtown Island
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 80 total · 80 in this make and model · 15 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- DKX
- METAR
- METAR KDKX 121855Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM OVC024 10/05 A3016 RMK A01
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 14, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.2 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.