- Date
- November 7, 2024, 06:42 local (13:42 UTC)
- Place
- Prescott, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N679ERTextron 172S
- Defining event
- Taxi-to runway: Ground collision
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- 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
- 20241107017609I
- Case key
- 195462
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The flight instructor’s failure to maintain clearance from a fence during taxi. Contributing to the accident was the low light conditions and obstacles adjacent to the deice bay.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings.
Analysis
The flight instructor and pilot undergoing instruction were preparing for a pre-sunrise instructional flight. The airplane was standing at an unlit deice bay adjacent to a hangar, parked airplane, and a chain-link fence. As the flight instructor attempted to maneuver around the parked airplane and taxi out of the deice bay, the right wing impacted the top of the chain-link fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilots reported there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N679ER
- Reported as
- Textron 172S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 172S12754
- Built
- 2021
- Airframe hours
- 2,699.5
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-L2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Inc, doing business as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Registered owner
- Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · November 6, 2024
- Airport
- KPRC · Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field Airport
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Data recorder
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 20, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 607 total · 546 in this make and model · 458 as pilot in command · 204 in the last 90 days · 93 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 19
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 151 total · 151 in this make and model · 94 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 27 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- KPRC
- METAR
- KPRC 071353Z 00000KT 10SM CLR M03/M09 A3009 RMK AO2 SLP184 T10331094
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 22, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.6 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.