- Date
- August 4, 1992, 08:00 local (13:00 UTC)
- Place
- Breckenridge, TX
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N63930Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920804028979A
- Case key
- 18368
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
An inadvertent stall.
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 pilot was maneuvering along the pipeline attempting to locate what he had thought was a possible leak. He made several attempts to locate the leak and finally radioed to the repair crews on the ground to go to their next job. A witness reported that the airplane circled several times and flew lower each time. During the last pass, the airplane was below the tree line and made a climbing left turn with an 'acute angle up' just prior to the descent to impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63930
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275496
- Airframe hours
- 8,710
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Operator
- Koch Industries, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Bow Pipe Line
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 20, 1991 · 980 hours before
- Departed
- BKD
- Destination
- BKD
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 29
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,936 total · 6,185 in this make and model · 6,735 as pilot in command · 285 in the last 90 days · 110 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.