- Date
- July 16, 2004, 11:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Cut Bank, MT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N185SCessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 28, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA-FSDO
- Case key
- 59703
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 directional control during the takeoff roll.
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
In a written statement the pilot stated that during the takeoff roll, the airplane "quickly left the runway to the left and flipped on it's back." According to the pilot, the winds at the time of the accident were favoring runway 23 at an estimated speed of six knots. The pilot was departing on runway 23 when the accident occurred.
Factual narrative
On July 16, 2004, at 1115 mountain daylight time, a Cessna A185F, N185S, sustained substantial damage during the takeoff roll at the Cut Bank Municipal Airport, Cut Bank, Montana (CTB). The airplane is owned by the pilot and was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal/pleasure flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The commercial pilot and passenger aboard the airplane were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan had been filed for the proposed cross-country flight.
In a written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board, dated July 20, the pilot stated that during the takeoff roll, the airplane "quickly left the runway to the left and flipped on it's back."
According to the pilot, the winds at the time of the accident were favoring runway 23 at an estimated speed of six knots.
The pilot was departing on runway 23 when the accident occurred.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N185S
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503230
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Glorice P. Wills
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- CTB · Cut Bank, MT
- Destination
- MLS · Miles City, MT
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- CTB · Cut Bank Muni, runway 23, 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
- 75
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 6,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model · 50 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day