- Date
- December 31, 1993, 10:19 local (17:19 UTC)
- Place
- Cheyenne, WY
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N3734FCessna 172H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 20, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931231047429A
- Case key
- 41863
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 poor in flight decision. Factors include high winds, gusts, and the pilot's lack of total experience operating in high wind conditions.
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 student pilot, who had planned to do practice manuevers in the area of the departure airport, decided to land at a different airport in order to use the rest room. At the time of his landing, the winds were reported to be gusting up to 50 knots, and as he turned off the runway the aircraft was flipped over by a gust of wind.
Factual narrative
On December 31, 1993, at 1019 mountain standard time (MST), a Cessna 172, N3734F, flipped over while turning off the runway at Cheyenne Airport, Cheyenne, Wyoming. The student pilot received minor injuries, and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The solo instructional flight, which was being operated in visual meteorological conditions, had departed Pine Bluffs Municipal Airport, Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, about an hour and twenty minutes earlier. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to the student pilot, he had originally planned to do air-work in the area of Pine Bluffs, but changed his mind and decided to land at Cheyenne Airport in order to use the rest room. At the time of his landing on runway 26, the winds were 270 degrees at 36 knots, gusting up to 50 knots. As he turned off the runway, the aircraft was caught by a strong gust of wind and flipped over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3734F
- Reported as
- Cessna 172H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17255229
- Airframe hours
- 6,200
- Engine
- Continental O-300-D, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Pines Air Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 31, 1993 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- 82V · Pine Bluffs, WY
- Airport
- CYS · Cheyenne Airport, runway 26, 9,200 × 150 ft, concrete
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 44 total · 44 in this make and model · 16 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 36 knots, gusting 50
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 12 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CYS
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N3734F · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.