# NTSB NYC98LA190: Cessna 172, N1729V, Stow, MA, September 19, 1998 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · No injuries · Limited investigation · Final report - Date: September 19, 1998, 15:19 local (19:19 UTC) - Place: Stow, MA - Location: 42.4604° N, 71.5180° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs at MINUTE MAN AIR FLD (6B6), within about a mile (OpenAirDocs) - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=42.4604&lon=-71.5180&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Landing](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/550) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Highest injury: No injuries - Injuries: 1 uninjured - Status: Completed, report September 28, 1999 - Report: Approved by Office Director - NTSB case key (mKey): 43994 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=NYC98LA190 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/43994/pdf - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/NYC98LA190 ## Probable cause The pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing. Contributing factors were the pilot's lack of a single engine experience/certification. Also a factor was the flying club's inadequate oversight of pilot qualifications. ## Sequence of events In NTSB's coding before 2008 (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). - Hard landing, landing - roll - weather condition - tailwind - recovery from bounced landing - improper, pilot in command (cause) - lack of familiarity with aircraft, pilot in command (contributing factor) - lack of certification, pilot in command (contributing factor) - inadequate surveillance of operation, company/operator mgmt (contributing factor) - Overrun, landing - roll - Nose gear collapsed, landing - roll - landing gear,nose gear - sheared - Nose down, landing - roll ## Analysis At his destination airport the pilot was unable to reach anyone by radio or verify the winds visually, so he made left traffic for Runway 3. When the pilot flared the airplane it floated down the runway. The pilot then bounced the airplane three times. After the third bounce he drove the airplane hard onto the runway and applied maximum braking. Unable to stop, the airplane then departed the departure end of the runway, shearing the nose gear and ultimately nosing over. The pilot had over 25,000 hours of flight experience, but only 25 hours in small general aviation airplanes. He also did not have a single engine land rating nor was he operating the airplane as a student pilot. When the pilot approached the flying club to become a member no one from the club asked him if he had an airplane single engine land rating because of his airline pilot back ground. It was just assumed. The club did require the pilot to take a proficiency ride before he was allowed to rent from them. The pilot estimated the winds to be from 210 degrees magnetic at 10 knots at the time of the accident. ## Factual narrative On September 19, 1998, at 1519 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172, N1729V, owned and operated by the Oxford Flying Club, was substantially damage after it departed the runway environment while landing at the Minute Man Airfield, Stow, Massachusetts. The certificated airline transport pilot was not injured, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. No flight plan was filed and the flight departed Waterbury-Oxford Airport, Oxford, Connecticut, about 1400. The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was to familiarize himself with the Minute Man Airfield and to assess transportation from the airport to the hotel for a future business meeting. According to the pilot, he checked weather and then departed Oxford, Connecticut, for Stow. While approaching the airport, the pilot tried four times, but was unable to contact anyone on the Unicom frequency to obtain the winds and the preferred runway. He also checked for other aircraft in the traffic pattern, but received no response. Unable to contact anyone by radio, the pilot tried to identify the winds by over flying the airport. This also was unsuccessful, so the pilot elected to make left traffic for Runway 3. The pilot stated that the first indication of trouble came when he flared the airplane and it started to float down the runway. The airplane bounced three times, and after the third bounce, he drove the airplane "hard" onto the runway and applied maximum braking. At that point he realized there was insufficient runway to stop, but elected not to execute a go-around because of limited runway remaining, and the fact the airport was set in a valley surrounded by trees. The airplane departed the departure end of the runway, sheared off the nose wheel and nosed over. After exiting the airplane the pilot estimated the winds to be from 210 degrees magnetic at 10 knots. The pilot stated that he had not identified the windsock until after the accident. After the accident, he was informed by another pilot that the windsock was not visible while maintaining traffic pattern altitude, and that he needed to be 400 feet below the traffic pattern to see it. The pilot added that the majority of his 25,000 hours of flight time was accumulated in transport category aircraft, and that he just recently started flying general aviation aircraft. He further stated he had about 5 hours in the Cessna 172, and about 20 hours in the PA-28-180. On the NTSB form 6120.1/2, the pilot did not check airplane single engine land as a rating, and a review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) record's also revealed that the pilot didn't have a single land rating. According to the operator's maintenance officer, the club was not aware the pilot did not possess a single engine land rating. The maintenance officer stated that when the pilot joined the flying club, everyone was so impressed with his flight experience, and the fact he was a retired airline pilot, no one asked. The maintenance officer added that the club did give the pilot a proficiency ride before allowing him to rent airplanes, and they had all of their members bring in their FAA Certificates and Medicals for verification after the accident. The Safety Board made several attempts, without success, to contact the pilot once it was determined he did not poses a single engine land rating. ## Aircraft - Registration: N1729V (not matched to a registry record) - Reported make and model: Cessna 172 - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 17263728 - Engines: Lycoming O-320E2D 150 horsepower reciprocating - Damage: Substantial damage - Flight: Personal, Part 91 - Registered owner: Oxford Flying Club - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Departed: OXC, OXFORD, CT - Destination: 6B6 - Airport: 6B6, Minute Man Air Field, runway 3, 2,770 × 48 ft, asphalt ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 60; airline transport; airplane ratings: multi-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; medical: class 1, valid medical--w/ waivers/lim; seat: left; flight hours: 25,000 total, 5 in this make and model, 11,000 as pilot in command, 20 in the last 90 days, 1 in the last 30 days, 1 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day - Wind: 200° at 8 knots - Visibility: 10 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: none - Temperature: 66 °F, dew point 63 °F - Altimeter: 29.00 inHg - Observed at: BOS, 27 nm away ## FAA reports on this event (1) The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 19980919025429A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/19980919025429A), Sep 19, 1998: Cessna 172M, Stow, MA, Substantial damage. Acft landed downwind and went off the end of runway 03. (-23) N1729V, C172, landed downwind, went off the end of runway 03, Stow-minuteman airport, MA and… From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.