- Date
- December 26, 1995, 10:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fallbrook, CA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N97196Cessna 182Q
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 7, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19951226042529A
- Case key
- 29357
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 inadequate preflight planning/preparation (failure to ensuring the flight information publication was current); his selection of the wrong runway for landing; his failure to achieve the proper touchdown point during the landing; and his failure to go around, while there was still sufficient airspeed and runway available. The tailwind was a related factor.
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
After arriving over the airport, the pilot was unsuccessful in obtaining an airport advisory by using the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) from a flight information publication that was in his possession. (After the accident, he noticed the publication was out-of-date and did not have the correct CTAF published.) The pilot said he could find no means for determining the wind direction, and he elected to land on runway 18. During the landing roll, he was unable to stop the aircraft on the remaining runway, and it overran the departure end, encountered a rough surface, and nosed over. The pilot said that after the accident, he realized he had unknowingly landed downwind with a 15-knot tail wind. Ground witnesses reported that the aircraft was very fast and had touched down about 1,000 feet down the 2,160-foot-long runway. The witnesses also stated that the winds had been steady from the north at 10 to 15 knots all morning.
Factual narrative
On December 26, 1995, at 1000 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 182Q, N97196, nosed over following a landing overrun at the Fallbrook, California, airport. The aircraft was owned and operated by the pilot and was on a personal cross-country flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the operation. The aircraft incurred substantial damage. The certificated private pilot and two passengers were not injured. The flight originated at Long Beach, California, on the day of the accident at 0920 as a flight to Fallbrook.
The pilot was interviewed by telephone on the day of the accident. He reported that after arriving over the airport he was unsuccessful in contacting anyone on the ground over the CTAF for an airport advisory. After the accident he noticed the flight information publication he was using was out-of-date and did not have the correct CTAF published. The pilot said he could find no means for determining the wind direction and he elected to land on runway 18. He could not stop the aircraft and it overran the departure end of the runway, encountered a rough surface, and nosed over. The pilot said that after the accident it was clear that the he had unknowingly landed downwind with a 15-knot tail wind.
Ground witnesses reported to FAA inspectors that the aircraft was very fast and touched down about 1,000 feet down the 2,160-foot-long runway. The witnesses stated that the winds had been steady from the north at 10 to 15 knots all morning.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N97196
- Reported as
- Cessna 182Q
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18267011
- Airframe hours
- 1,400
- Engine
- Continental O-470-U, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- William H. Wallace
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 1995 · 100 hours before
- Departed
- LGB · Long Beach, CA
- Destination
- L18
- Airport
- L18 · Fallbrook Airpark, runway 18, 2,160 × 70 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
- 73
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,304 total · 800 in this make and model · 16 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.