- Date
- February 26, 1998, 14:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Port Townsend, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7620MCessna 175
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980226001889A
- Case key
- 42760
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 misjudged distance and speed during landing. A factor was the wet grass runway.
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
During a landing on a damp 1700-foot grass runway, the pilot overran the runway, hit a ditch, bounced over a road, and ended up in a ditch on the other side of the road.
Factual narrative
On February 26, 1998, approximately 1400 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 175, N7620M, collided with terrain while landing at an unnamed private airstrip near Port Townsend, WA. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured, and the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The personal flight, which originated at Lebanon, Oregon about 1200 PST, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. An IFR flight plan had been filed for the flight, but was cancelled in the Port Townsend area prior to the landing.
During a telephone interview with the pilot and in the pilot's written statement, he said that he was landing on a damp 1700 ft grass runway. He overran the runway, hit a ditch, bounced over a road, and ended up in a ditch on the other side of the road. There were no mechanical failures reported by the pilot.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7620M
- Reported as
- Cessna 175
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 55920
- Airframe hours
- 2,936
- Engine
- Continental GO300C, 175 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Paul B. Meadowbrook
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 8, 1997 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- S30 · Lebanon, OR
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- runway 34, 1,700 × 45 ft, grass/turf
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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 900 total · 150 in this make and model · 900 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Wind
- 290° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KNU, 17 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.