- Date
- February 25, 2006, 10:20 local (17:20 UTC)
- Place
- Sedona, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N64423Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20060225004959A
- Case key
- 63275
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 failure to maintain an adequate clearance from obstructions and diverted attention while taxiing.
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 maneuvered his airplane around a parked airplane and collided with a pole while taxiing toward a parking area following landing from his flight. The pilot had diverted his attention toward the parked airplane to his right, and the pole was on the left side of his airplane.
Factual narrative
On February 25, 2006, about 1020 mountain standard time, the pilot taxiing a Cessna 172P, N64423, impacted a pole at the Sedona, Arizona, airport. The pilot had rented the airplane from Aerobear Aviation, Cottonwood, Arizona. The airplane's left wing was substantially damaged during the ground collision. Neither the private pilot nor the passenger was injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight was performed under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, and it originated from Cottonwood at 0735.
The pilot reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that while he was taxiing toward a parking area, he looked right while maneuvering around an airplane that was parked near the terminal building. The pilot reported that he was "focusing on avoiding the wing of the jet to my right. I didn't notice the tall light pole on my left."
The left wing of the pilot's airplane impacted the pole. The operator's mechanic subsequently examined the flight school's airplane. The mechanic reported that the collision occurred about 2 feet inboard of the wing tip, and the wing was structurally deformed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N64423
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275560
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Aerobear Aviation
- Registered owner
- Bulwal Partnership
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Departed
- SEZ · Sedona, AZ
- Destination
- P52 · Cottonwood, AZ
- Airport
- SEZ · Sedona
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 251 total · 13 in this make and model · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.