# NTSB WPR12CA440: Cessna 180, N3115D, Huntington, UT, September 29, 2012 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · No injuries · Data collection · Final report - Date: September 29, 2012, 13:10 local (19:10 UTC) - Place: Huntington, UT - Coordinates: 39.36111, -110.916946 (estimated) - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=39.3611&lon=-110.9169&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Takeoff](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/300) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Defining event: [Takeoff: Loss of control on ground](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/230) - Highest injury: No injuries - Injuries: 4 uninjured - Status: Completed, report December 19, 2012 - Report: Approved by Office Director - NTSB office: Western Pacific Region - Parties: Federal Aviation Administration - NTSB case key (mKey): 85172 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=WPR12CA440 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/85172/pdf - NTSB docket: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=85172 - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/WPR12CA440 ## Probable cause The pilot's inadvertent encounter with a gust front during the takeoff roll, which resulted in loss of control of the airplane. ## Findings NTSB's coded findings; those marked are part of the probable cause. - [Wind: high wind](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055): Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena · Contributed to outcome (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 180, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055/cases.md?model=2072602), [All aircraft, 112 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055/cases.md) - [Wind: high wind](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055): Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena · Awareness of condition (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 180, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055/cases.md?model=2072602), [All aircraft, 112 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03034055/cases.md) - [Performance/control parameters: directional control](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062020): Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability · Attain/maintain not possible (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 180, 64 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062020/cases.md?model=2072602), [All aircraft, 3,958 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01062020/cases.md) ## Sequence of events The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event best describes what happened. - [Takeoff: Other weather encounter](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/400); cases with it: [Cessna 180, 16 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/400/sequence.md?model=2072602), [All aircraft, 1,127 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/400/sequence.md) - [Takeoff: Loss of control on ground](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/230) (defining event); cases with it: [Cessna 180, 80 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/230/sequence.md?model=2072602), [All aircraft, 4,585 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/230/sequence.md) ## Analysis The commercial pilot/owner was using his high-wing, tailwheel-equipped airplane to participate in an Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles event at a non-towered airport. The airport was situated in high desert terrain at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. About 1300, when the pilot had already completed 8 flights, and the other airplanes and pilots had also been actively flying, the pilot boarded three young passengers. According to the pilot, there were no clouds in the immediate vicinity, the wind was calm, and an automated weather broadcast for an airport about 17 miles to the northeast reported similar conditions. He started the airplane and taxied out for departure on runway 8. The airport windsock was "motionless" as he began the takeoff roll. A few hundred feet down the runway, while the airplane was still below liftoff speed, the left wing rose up, and the airplane weathervaned nose left about 60 degrees. The airplane exited the left (north) side of the runway, and then rotated about 120 degrees nose right before it came to rest. The right wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage, and the pilot and passengers were uninjured. About the same time, a flight instructor in an airplane on the downwind leg for runway 8 encountered "turbulence," which resulted in a 500-foot altitude loss before she could stop the descent by "climbing" at her best angle-of-climb speed. Numerous persons at the airport for the event reported that a sudden, strong, and unexpected "wind gust" swept across the airport, and disturbed many objects on the ground, including some airplanes. They reported that it traveled approximately northwest to southeast, which meant that it approached the accident airplane from its left rear quarter. One pilot on the ground reported that there was a "storm brewing" near the mountains, about 6 miles northwest of the airport, at the time of the accident. According to Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 00-24 (Thunderstorms), "Gust fronts often move far ahead (up to 15 miles) of associated precipitation. The gust front causes a rapid and sometimes drastic change in surface wind ahead of an approaching storm." ## Factual narrative The commercial pilot/owner was using his high-wing, tailwheel-equipped airplane to participate in an Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles event at a non-towered airport. The airport was situated in high desert terrain of the west, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. About 1300, when the pilot had already completed 8 such flights, and the other airplanes and pilots had also been actively flying, the pilot boarded three young passengers. According to the pilot, there were no clouds in the immediate vicinity, calm winds, and an automated weather broadcast for an airport about 17 miles to the northeast reported similar conditions. He started the airplane and taxied out for departure on runway 8. The airport windsock was "motionless" as he began the takeoff roll. A few hundred feet down the runway, while the airplane was still below liftoff speed, the left wing rose up, and the airplane weather-vaned nose left about 60 degrees. The airplane exited the left (north) side of the runway, and then rotated about 120 degrees nose right before it came to rest. The right wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage, and the pilot and passengers were uninjured. About the same time, a flight instructor in an airplane on the downwind leg for runway 8 encountered "turbulence," which resulted in a 500-foot altitude loss before she could stop the descent by "climbing" at her best angle-of climb speed. Numerous persons at the airport for the event reported that a sudden, strong, and unexpected "wind gust" swept across the airport, and disturbed many objects on the ground, including some airplanes. They reported that it traveled approximately northwest to southeast, which meant that it approached the accident airplane from its left rear quarter. One pilot on the ground reported that there was a "storm brewing" near the mountains, about 6 miles northwest of the airport, at the time of the accident. According to Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 00-24 (Thunderstorms), "Gust fronts often move far ahead (up to 15 miles) of associated precipitation. The gust front causes a rapid and sometimes drastic change in surface wind ahead of an approaching storm." ## Aircraft - Registration: [N3115D](https://openairdocs.org/aircraft/N3115D), registered now, S/N 31913, built 1955 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: CESSNA 180 - Registry model: [Cessna 180](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-180) (registry code 2072602) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry engine: [Continental O-470 series](https://openairdocs.org/engine/continental-o-470-series) (registry code 17026, reciprocating) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 31913 - Airframe hours: 6269 - Damage: Substantial damage - Flight: Personal, Part 91 - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Last inspection: Annual, March 19, 2012 - Departed: 69V, Huntington, UT - Destination: 69V, Huntington, UT - Flight plan: Unknown - Airport: 69V, Huntington Municipal, runway 08, 4,048 × 75 ft, asphalt ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 72; injuries: none; commercial; airplane ratings: single-engine sea, single-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; medical: class 3, without waivers/limitations; last flight review March 7, 2012; seat: left; flight hours: 3,354 total, 748 in this make and model, 2,781 as pilot in command, 31 in the last 90 days, 6 in the last 30 days, 3 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day - Visibility: 25 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: none - Temperature: 70 °F, dew point 39 °F - Altimeter: 30.12 inHg - Observed at: 69V ## FAA reports on this event (1) The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 20120929021749A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20120929021749A), Sep 29, 2012: Cessna 180, Huntington, UT, Substantial damage. Pilot stated that after rotation he incountered a micro burst causing the aircraft to bank 90 deg left causing the right gear to colaspe and the right outboard… ## Docket (3 files) The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 18, 2012, on NTSB's docket system: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=85172. 5.2 MB in all. - Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1 (item 1, .PDF, 3.2 MB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40378991&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Pilot%2FOperator%20Aircraft%20Accident%20Report,%20NTSB%20Form%206120.1-Redacted.PDF - Witness Statements (item 2, .PDF, 551 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40378992&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witness%20Statements-Redacted.PDF - Pilot Provided On-Site Documentation (item 3, .PDF, 7 photos, 1.5 MB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40378994&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Pilot%20Provided%20On-Site%20Documentation-Master.PDF From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.