- Date
- March 17, 1991, 20:00 local (Mar 18, 1991, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Leroy, NY
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N20360Cessna 172M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910317013949A
- Case key
- 36892
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 hard landing made by the pilot. Factors relating to the accident were the decision of the pilot to land on the runway despite the runway lighting system being partially inoperative, and the lack of experience of the pilot at night.
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 airplane was returning for landing from a local night flight. The pilot was advised some runway lights were inoperative and car lights would be used to illuminate the runway. The pilot had difficulty finding the airport. He aborted his first approach, because it did not look right. On his second approach he said, 'everything looked good, I flared, and then the plane suddenly hit the runway hard. I took off again and made another attempt...I made my approach, landed on the runway a good distance down the runway and proceeded to direct the aircraft to the grass.' An examination of the airplane by the FAA revealed buckling of the firewall. The pilot had a total of 103 flight hours with 7 hours in this model. He had a total of 4 hours night time. He had flown 2 hours in the last 90 days and 1 hour in the last 30 days.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N20360
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17261222
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Golden Wings Aviation Inc.
- Registered owner
- Golden Wings Aviation Inc.
- Airport
- 5G0 · Leroy, runway 28, 2,645 × 28 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
- 22
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 103 total · 7 in this make and model · 413 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.