- Date
- July 7, 1992, 12:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Melstone, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N97046Cessna 182Q
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920707023999A
- Case key
- 42850
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
Inadequate in flight planning/decision. Factors to the accident were: unsuitable terrain was selected, rough/uneven terrain and a go around was not performed.
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
At the end of a cross country flight, the pilot reported that he was intending to land on a private airstrip that he had not been into before. The day before the flight, the pilot had contacted the owner for directions and the condition of the strip. When the flight arrived, the pilot found an area that looked like what the owner had described. The pilot noted that the field looked wet, so a soft field landing was initiated. While on short final, the pilot noted that the surface was very rough. The airplane touched down and was almost stopped when the nose wheel bounced on a mound of dirt. When the nose wheel contacted the surface, it sunk into the soft soil and the airplane nosed over. Later, the pilot found out that the area where he had landed was, in fact, not the airstrip, but a construction site for a railroad operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N97046
- Reported as
- Cessna 182Q
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18266952
- Airframe hours
- 1,456
- Engine
- Continental O-470-U, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Cogswell Agency
- Registered owner
- Cogswell Agency
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 3, 1992 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- BIL · Billings, MT
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 52
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 531 total · 421 in this make and model · 428 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 275° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.