- Date
- April 26, 1997, 23:00 local (Apr 27, 1997, 06:00 UTC)
- Place
- Pullman, WA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N73934Cessna 172N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 24, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970427006709A
- Case key
- 42593
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 clearance from a fuel truck parked near his taxi route. Factors include a dark night and a vehicle parked near the pilot's route of taxi.
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
After an uneventful landing on a dark night, the pilot began taxiing the rental aircraft to its parking spot. As he maneuvered the aircraft in order to align it with the parking spot, the wing of the aircraft collided with a fuel truck that had been parked near his taxi route.
Factual narrative
On April 26, 1997, approximately 2300 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172, N73934, collided with a fuel truck while being taxied at Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport, Pullman, Washington. The private pilot and his three passengers where not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by Interstate Aviation of Pullman, sustained substantial damage. The FAR Part 91 personal pleasure flight, which departed Coeur d' Alene, Idaho about 30 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions when the pilot landed at Pullman. The pilot had not filed a flight plan, and the ELT was not activated during the accident.
According to the pilot, who had landed after dark, he was making a 180 degree turn in order to align the aircraft with the parking spot in which he intended to stop, when the left wing of the aircraft collided with a stationary fuel truck.
The pilot failed to return an NTSB Form 6120.1/2.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N73934
- Reported as
- Cessna 172N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17267755
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Interstate Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Departed
- S77 · Coeur D' Alene, ID
- Destination
- PUW
- Airport
- PUW · Pullman-Moscow
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
- 25
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 250 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 310° at 12 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.