- Date
- February 6, 2025, 17:45 local (Feb 7, 2025, 00:45 UTC)
- Place
- Tusayan, AZ · Runway 21
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N9317MCessna T207A
- Defining event
- Takeoff-rejected takeoff: Landing gear collapse
- 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
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250206000899A
- Case key
- 199800
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
An encounter with wind gusts, which resulted in a loss of control and a collapse of the nose landing gear.
Findings · 3
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 pilot reported that he delayed his departure due to wind gusts. During the takeoff roll he encountered a wind gust and the airplane departed the runway surface momentarily. The airplane then rapidly entered a nose down attitude and subsequently landed hard. The nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage keel beam. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies could have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9317M
- Reported as
- Cessna T207A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20700680
- Built
- 1980
- Airframe hours
- 22,315.3
- Engine
- Cont Motor TSIO-520-M, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Westwind Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Westwind Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 13, 2024 · 57.9 hours before
- Destination
- SEZ · Sedona, AZ
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- GCN · Grand Canyon Ntl Park, runway 03/21, 8,999 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 23
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 30, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 717.1 total · 22.9 in this make and model · 551.6 as pilot in command · 66.4 in the last 90 days · 27.5 in the last 30 days · 2.1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.07 inHg
- Observed at
- KGCN, 1 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGCN 060054Z 24009KT 10SM CLR 12/M06 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP141 T01171056=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 29, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 24.0 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 N9317M · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.