- Date
- November 8, 2016, 13:25 local (20:25 UTC)
- Place
- Salmon, ID
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N737MYCessna 172
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 18, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20161108025039A
- Case key
- 94418
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 airplane's encounter with a depression in a dirt runway during takeoff, which resulted in a tail strike.
Findings · 1
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 reported that during takeoff on a dirt runway he rotated the airplane and as it "went through a dip in the airstrip" he felt a "thump" [tail strike]. The pilot further reported that the airplane became airborne and he continued the flight uneventfully. During a postflight inspection, it was revealed that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the bulkhead and lower skin of the tail cone. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during takeoff on a dirt runway he rotated the airplane and as it "went through a dip in the airstrip" he felt a "thump" [tail strike]. The pilot further reported that the airplane became airborne and he continued the flight uneventfully. During a postflight inspection, it was revealed that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the bulkhead and lower skin of the tail cone. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N737MY
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (N)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17269533
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 6,885.3
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Mccall Aviation Inc, doing business as McCall Air
- Registered owner
- Jls II LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 4, 2016
- Departed
- 85U · Salmon, ID
- Destination
- I08 · Big Creek Ranger Station, ID
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 85U · Soldier Bar Usfs, runway 07, 1,650 × 15 ft, gravel
- Equipment
- 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
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 12, 2016
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,447 total · 782 in this make and model · 1,330 as pilot in command · 130 in the last 90 days · 45 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.36 inHg
- Observed at
- KSMN, 39 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 8, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 720 KB 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.