- Date
- September 22, 1991, 12:25 local (19:25 UTC)
- Place
- Cottonwood, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N738ELCessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910922042169A
- Case key
- 27366
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-in-command's delay in raising the flaps and the subsequent inadvertent stall/mush.
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 recently certificated private pilot reported that she was practicing touch & go t.o.'s and landings. On the third t.o. with the flaps extended 40 degrees, then she placed the flap lever to 10 degrees. The airplane then prematurely lifted off, but the airspeed was not accelerating. The pilot realized the flaps were still fully extended and the airplane was only about 2-FT off the ground and beyond the departure end of the runway. The pilot then elected to execute an off-airport landing in the brush covered desert. Rescue personnel reported that when they arrived at the accident site the flaps were retracted. An FAA inspector reported the flaps were fully extended and that the flap lever was in the fully extended position when he arrived at the accident site after the rescue personnel left. He stated that the flaps operated normally.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N738EL
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17269919
- Airframe hours
- 4,962
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- North-Aire, Inc.
- Registered owner
- North-Aire, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 29, 1991 · 19 hours before
- Departed
- PRC · Prescott, AZ
- Airport
- P52 · Cottonwood, runway 14, 4,250 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 163 total · 64 in this make and model · 107 as pilot in command · 101 in the last 90 days · 39 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 65 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.