- Date
- September 26, 2025, 10:40 local (16:40 UTC)
- Place
- Billings, MT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N272CSiai-Marchetti SF260B
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250926015229A
- Case key
- 201730
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On September 26, 2025, about 1040 mountain daylight time, a SIAI-MARCHETTI SF 260B, N272C, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Billings, Montana. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations part 91 flight. The pilot reported that shortly after rotation from runway 28R, the airplane began to drift left. He applied corrective control inputs and was able to maintain control while in ground effect, but the airplane would not climb. The airplane then drifted away from the runway to the right, and began to settle, after which it struck the ground. The landing gear collapsed during the impact sequence, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and aft cabin structure. The airplane was recovered for further examination.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N272C
- Reported as
- Siai-Marchetti SF260B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20-01
- Built
- 1974
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airport
- BIL
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 20 knots, gusting 28
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KBIL
- METAR
- METAR KBIL 261653Z 32020G28KT 8SM FEW110 FEW200 23/M03 A2994 RMK AO2 PK WND 34029/1601 SLP110 ACSL SE-S FU HZ W-E T02331028=
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.