- Date
- May 18, 2024, 08:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Prescott, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N17304Cessna 172S
- Defining event
- Takeoff-rejected takeoff: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20240518005859A
- Case key
- 194455
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 student pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during landing following an aborted takeoff which resulted in a runway excursion and impact with a ditch.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot reported that during a takeoff, while about 3 to 5 ft above the ground, a couple of birds flew across the windscreen. The student pilot aborted the takeoff to land on the remaining runway. The airplane descended onto the runway and veered to the left, exited the runway, across the taxiway and impacted a ditch, which resulted in substantial damage to the right horizontal stabilizer. The student pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N17304
- Reported as
- Cessna 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S10643
- Built
- 2007
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- North Aire Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- PRC · Prescott Regional Airport - Earnest A. Love Field, runway 21L, 7,619 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 62.2 total · 62.2 in this make and model · 15.1 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- KPRC, 1 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KPRC 181453Z 17004KT 10SM CLR 21/04 A3009 RMK AO2 SLP110 ACFT MSHAP T02060039 51013=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 12, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 41.7 MB in all.
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 N17304 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.